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But due to the stock options backdating scandal, which has "produced 16 criminal prosecutions, the disclosure that 220 companies have been subject to internal or federal investigations and 100 corporate earnings restatements totaling $12.4 billion," it has left some "white-collar criminal defense" lawyers nervous and without answers, says an article on www.law.com.
Why? Because, according to the same article, lawyers are unsure which sentencing guidelines to apply: "the pre-Enron guidelines or the post-Enron version in November 2001 that ratcheted up sentences for corrupt executives."
"If you [tell a client] it could be probation or 10 years, that's not helpful," said Peter Henning, a professor who teaches white-collar crime at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit. "Lawyers are flying blind and lawyers hate that."
But "even defense lawyers disagree about how to apply sentencing rules in this uncharted territory," says the article.
One case, however, might help steer them in the right direction.
U.S. v. Reyes is the case of Former Brocade Communications Inc. CEO Gregory Reyes, who faced trial earlier this month. Most likely, Reyes' sentence will set the standard in backdating cases.
"Reyes," according to Henning, "will give us the road map."
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