NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Blackberry maker Research in Motion announced Tuesday that the company and four current and former officers have settled an options backdating case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.The SEC charged Ontario, Canada-based RIM's former chief financial officer Dennis Kavelman, former Vice President of Finance Angelo Loberto, and current Co-Chief Executive Officers James Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis with illegally granting stock options to company executives and employees over an eight-year period from 1998 through 2006.
"RIM and its highest level executives engaged in widespread backdating of options which provided them and other employees with millions of dollars in undisclosed compensation," said Linda Chatman Thomsen, director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, in a statement.
The SEC alleged that the four executives made "false and misleading disclosures" about how RIM (RIMM) priced and accounted for options. The backdating, which typically involves issuing options at a below-market price to make the grants more profitable for the recipient, violated the terms of RIM's stock option plan and listing requirements on both U.S. and Canadian stock exchanges.
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