On Monday, Judge Rakoff issued a 12-page ruling approving the SEC’s $3 million stock options backdating and accounting fraud settlement with Vitesse Semiconductor and two of its executives. But echoing his complaints in the SEC’s action against Bank of America last year, the judge also issued a warning about future SEC settlements in which defendants neither admit nor deny wrongdoing.
The SEC filed civil fraud charges against Vitesse in December, at the same time it announced a $3 million settlement agreement with the company. The agency also sued Vitesse’s former controller, former finance director, and two other former Vitesse executives. Two of the former officials settled by agreeing to disgorge their gains.
