SEC charges former Microtune execs with backdating - July 1, 2008 - cnn.com

NEW YORK (Associated Press) - The Securities and Exchange Commission
said Tuesday it has charged cable-chip company Microtune Inc. and two
former executives with perpetrating a "fraudulent and deceptive stock
option backdating scheme."

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.

Microtune's shares climbed 4 cents to $3.38 in after-hours trading. The stock had closed down 12 cents at $3.34.