Academic

The latest backdating victim: the former CEO of Monster.com, Andrew McKelvey.  McKelvey can no long serve as an officer of a public company and owes the SEC $275 grand.  And he didn't even benefit (much) from the backdated options, which went to his staff.  Here's a taste from the press-release-of-victory:

McKelvey caused Monster to misrepresent in its periodic filings and proxy statements filed with the Commission that all stock options were granted at the fair market value of the stock on the date of the award, when that was not the case. McKelvey also caused Monster to file materially misstated financial statements with the Commission in its Forms 10-K and 10-Q that did not recognize compensation expense for the company's stock option grants, as required by generally accepted accounting principles. As a result, Monster overstated its aggregate pretax operating income by approximately $339.5 million, for fiscal years 1997 through 2005. Although McKelvey did not receive backdated options, he benefited from the scheme by granting backdated options to four individuals that he personally employed, including three pilots and a mechanic.