Former General Counsel at McAfee was acquitted in a case of alleged backdating. Dan Levine has a wonderful piece describing the "intent" issue faced by the jury in this case. See Dan Levine, The Recorder, No Charges Stick to Former McAfee General Counsel in DOJ Case Mens Rea is typically the most crucial element in a white collar crime case. This case sends a message to the government that they need to think twice about bringing backdating prosecutions.
See also LA Times (AP) Former McAfee lawyer is acquitted in stock options backdating trial
here; Dan Slater, WSJ Blog, Stephen “Smooth as Butter” Neal Wins Acquittal for Former McAfee GC
(esp)
MattBray.net 
2 responses to “Acquittal in Backdating Case”
I think the jury was influenced by the fact that Roberts didn’t profit from the backdating, directly or indirectly. This was a hard case for the prosecution, given the absence of such evidence.
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This case certainly doesn’t “send[] a message to the government that they need to think twice about bringing backdating prosecutions.” It simply stands for the proposition that some cases are easier to win and some harder. Sometimes, the right thing to do is to bring a hard case trial even if it is going to be difficult to prove. The Government has an obligation to bring hard cases as well as the easy ones.
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