The departure of several staff attorneys from the U.S. Attorney's office in San Francisco will not hamper its ability to investigate stock options backdating cases, including one involving Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs, a spokesman said.
Several staff attorneys have left the office, but others have been assigned to take their places, according to spokesman Luke Macaulay. One of the most high profile companies being investigated is Apple, though Macaulay declined to confirm reports Tuesday that Jobs was interviewed last week by federal prosecutors and officials of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission. Apple did not respond to requests for comment.
Kevin Ryan, the head of the U.S. Attorney's office for the Northern District of California, announced his resignation Jan. 16, which he said was for personal reasons. His replacement, who would be appointed by President George W. Bush, has not yet been named, Macaulay said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Steskal, a member of the Securities Fraud Section in the San Francisco office and a task force focused specifically on options backdating, is leaving to work at a private law firm. But another assistant U.S. Attorney, Tim Crudo, has been added to the task force.
And although attorney Haywood Gilliam left his position as chief of the Securities Fraud Section late last year, attorney Elise Becker has been named acting chief, Macaulay said.
"Government offices typically go through transitions while ensuring stability of cases and investigations. U.S. Attorney Ryan is taking care to ensure a smooth transition in the office's cases," Macaulay said, responding to news reports that the departures may hamper the U.S. Attorney's Office's ability to prosecute cases.
Five attorneys and at least eight FBI agents in the San Francisco office form a task force investigating reports that officials of public companies violated federal rules on accounting for stock options granted to employees, he said.
The former CEO of Brocade Communications Systems, Gregory Reyes and Stephanie Jensen, its former vice president of human resources, are the first executives prosecuted in San Francisco on fraud charges related to alleged backdating. They are scheduled to go on trial later in 2007.
This whitepaper explains the terminology and concepts behind Data Replication technologies and establishes some sizing rules through worked examples. Learn the new paradigm in disaster tolerance—protect data anywhere.
Download now »
Server virtualization is a popular option for dealing with mounting datacenter costs. Another equally promising approach is the use of an Application Delivery Controller. Citrix NetScaler provides a low-cost way for organizations to reduce their server count and accrue cost savings from a reduction in space, cooling, power and personnel.
Download now »
The emergence of WLANs has created a new breed of security threats to enterprise networks.
Included in HP ProCurve WLAN solutions is security technology that alleviates threats from WLANs through:
* Monitoring wireless activity inside and out of the enterprise
* Classifying WLAN transmissions into harmful and harmless
* Preventing transmissions that pose a security threat to the enterprise network
* Locating participating devices for physical remediation
Effectively address data protection challenges, implementing solutions that help store and protect business–critical data while cutting costs and improving efficiency and reliability.
Download now »
Sign up to receive Security Resource Alerts
This white paper provides guidance on how to develop a strategic approach to managing and monitoring logs, a key function required for compliance with many regulatory mandates and a critical defense against security threats.
Download now! »
Learn about the processes and technologies that support security information management (SIM) operations, as well as the business case for SIM. The series examines different options for implementing SIM and gives you evaluation criteria for selecting the best option for your organization.
Download now! »
Learn the strategies, actions, and capabilities that Best-in-Class organizations employ and technologies they choose to obtain superior performance against various security performance metrics. This report provides guidelines for identifying which security solutions to consume as a MSS and defines best practices for choosing and managing MSSPs.
Download now! »
Recommend This
