SEC charges former Microtune execs with backdating

Microtune already said Monday it agreed to settle charges stemming from the investigation. It did not admit or deny the allegations, but it did consent to a permanent injunction against future violations of the securities laws.

The SEC said the Tuesday the backdating scheme awarded former Microtune Chairman and Chief Executive Douglas J. Bartek and former Chief Financial Officer and General Counsel Nancy Richardson as well as other employees "millions of dollars in undisclosed compensation." It also caused the Plano, Texas-based company to file "false and misleading" financial statements, the SEC added.

An attorney for Richardson said she will fight the charges.

"Ms. Richardson had no reason to believe that Microtune's options granting practices were improper or illegal when she joined Microtune," said Susan Resley in an e-mailed statement.

"From the day Ms. Richardson walked into the job until the day she left, she lost money on the options the SEC alleges she backdated," the statement continued. The attorney added that when Richardson recognized that an options granting practice was improper, she stopped it.

Calls to a Doug Bartek in the Plano, Texas, area were not answered, and an attorney for Bartek could not be located Tuesday afternoon. A representative for Microtune could not be reached.

Microtune had said in 2006 it uncovered several examples of backdated stock option grants, and it launched an internal review. The SEC started a formal investigation last year.

The internal audit found that actual measurement dates for some past stock option grants differed from the recorded dates, and in certain cases the difference resulted in stock options expenses that were not recorded properly.

Backdating means stock options are issued retroactively to coincide with low points in the stock price, which can increase the profit for the recipient. Backdating is not necessarily illegal, but it must be disclosed to investors and accounted for properly.