BACKDATED STOCK OPTIONS
 

Shapiro Haber & Urmy LLP Files Shareholder Derivative Action Against Maxim Integrated Products, Inc.

Shapiro Haber & Urmy LLP is currently serving as counsel in a derivative action, on behalf of Maxim, filed against certain former and current officers and directors of the company.  The complaint was originally filed on June 12, 2006 by Maxim shareholder Walter E. Ryan, Jr., and was amended on February 16, 2007 with the addition of a new plaintiff, Donna Conrad, new defendants, and additional allegations of backdating. The suit seeks to recover damages to Maxim that resulted from the alleged “wrongful conduct and fiduciary breaches” of the defendants in regards to the company’s stock option plan.

The complaint alleges that former CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Maxim, John F. Gifford, along with other high-ranking officers, knowingly participated in an option backdating scheme that resulted in multiple highly favorable stock option grant dates for the defendants (click here to learn more about backdated stock options). The result of these grants was a financial windfall for their recipients at the expense of company itself--the complaint states that “as a result of the back-dating of the options granted to them, defendants have been and will continue to be unjustly enriched at the expense of and to the detriment of Maxim.”

·         Click here to read the amended complaint in Ryan v. Gifford, Civil Action No. 2213 in the Delaware Court of Chancery.

If you have any questions regarding this case or your rights or interests, please contact Sophie Horowitz, Paralegal, Shapiro Haber & Urmy LLP, 53 State Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02109, by calling (800) 287-8119, by sending a facsimile to (617) 439-0134, or by sending an email to cases@shulaw.com.