back to article Symantec execs cooked the books to protect their fat bonuses, investor lawsuit alleges

A Symantec shareholder is suing the infosec biz, alleging its top brass fraudulently massaged the company's financial figures. The complaint [PDF], filed last week in a US district court, names Symantec Corporation along with CEO Greg Clark, CFO Nick Noviello, and former accounting head Mark Garfield as defendants. The lawsuit …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Lawyer money grab

    Okay, so Symantec had a big audit. Done by a 3rd party. The 3rd party found one $12M transaction in the fourth quarter of their previous fiscal year which should have been deferred. That is like 0.2% of Symantec's overall revenue. A relative mouse fart in terms of the valuation put on Symantec by Wall Street. Yet somehow these lawyers have secret inside information that not only are the books cooked, but that the 3rd party auditors are in cahoots with them as well.

    All these sueball lawyers just want to see if they can get Symantec to settle out of court for a few million in easy money. Do they really think if that one $12M transaction had been different on the books that it would have changed the stock price enough to be noticeable??

    1. Mark 85

      Re: Lawyer money grab

      Not lawyers actually, they're just a tool by the investors. Once upon a time, the first rule of investing was: "If you can't afford to lose, don't play.". Seems the investors have changed the ground rules. On the other hand, if Symantec did something illegal here, they yes, they should be prosecuted by the SEC, etc.

      1. Marty McFly Silver badge
        WTF?

        Re: Lawyer money grab

        It's called a contingency case. Doesn't cost the clients anything. The lawyer wins, the client gets some money. The lawyer loses, the clients don't have to pay anything. And the split of the winnings is definitely in favor of the lawyers. So yeah, sue happy slime balls hoping the defendant will 'settle out of court' for easy money in their pockets. Companies know it is overall cheaper to pay 7 figures out of pocket for a quick 'go away', rather than a long and drawn out 8-figures (and up) lawsuit.

        What buggers me is the lack of evidence. Sure, if Symantec bosses screwed up, carve the company up in to little chunks, light it on fire, and roast the executives over the flaming spit. It seems that audit went on for months and did not come up with a smoking gun. I don't get the point of a lawsuit at this time, unless it is the aforementioned easy money sue ball tactic.

        1. bobblestiltskin

          Re: Lawyer money grab

          It seems that audit went on for months and did not come up with a smoking gun.

          All hail Xenu!

    2. bobblestiltskin

      Re: Lawyer money grab

      Symantec had a big audit.

      That Scientology stuff doesn't come cheap!

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Lawyer money grab

      > Do they really think if that one $12M transaction had been different on the books that it would have changed the stock price enough to be noticeable??

      If I had been in their position I would have considered the $12M merely the tip of the iceberg. Enron too looked solid until people started digging. I hope nobody has Forgotten how that ended. And in any case, this means the management had betrayed the trust of the owners.

      1. BuggerOff

        Re: Lawyer money grab

        Uh, is anybody else trying to wrap around how $12M worth of fiddling yielded $52M in additional bonuses? Maybe the $52M is the damage? Had to come from somewhere, right?

        1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

          Re: BuggerOff

          If you nudge just enough into the right quarter, you'll qualify for the bonus - that's +/- $12m not $12m total - allegedly

          C.

  2. rcxb Silver badge

    So if bad actors are liable for illegal behavior that caused a drop in stock prices, do they also get all the credit from their illegal behavior that caused a stock price rise some time before the fall? Maybe the shareholders will end up having to pay them.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Please be careful when investing..

    The value of your investments may go down as well as up.

    Do investors these days not know how this works?

    1. FlamingDeath Silver badge

      Re: Please be careful when investing..

      "investment"

      Is that an oxymoron?

      These muppets aren't investing in shit, they're gambling. Huge fucking difference

      Parents invest in their children

      A retired person invests time to their hobbies

      A bloke with money spunks it on imaginary financials with the hope they increase in imaginary value (not an investment, but a gamble)

      Can you see the massive difference?

      1. Tigra 07
        Childcatcher

        Re: FlamingDeath

        Putting money into your children is still gambling. What if your kid is a failure and decides to spend their life on benefits, or working in a low paying job, unable to pay back all the college and uni fees they racked up? Bad investment, or gambling?

        Your comparison was bad and there isn't a massive difference between an investment or gambling. Most of the time there's not even a difference.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Please be careful when investing..

        A bloke with money spunks it on imaginary financials with the hope they increase in imaginary value (not an investment, but a gamble)

        That is broadly the case, and has been since the concept of the limited liability joint stock company was widely implemented. If it weren't for those speculators, madmen and opportunists, who enabled the growth of large efficient businesses able to make or move stuff far better and far more cheaply than before, then chances are you and I would still be living in mud huts, hoping that we'd survive the next plague or famine.

        1. Tigra 07
          Coat

          Re: Ledswinger

          That's a bit of an extreme example isn't it?

          I don't remember hearing about how the original investors of The Wheel demanded a better model the year after at a higher price point...And another after that with slightly better wind resistance or torque?

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Did anyone actually read the lawsuit? The former CISO says the CEO was committing fraudulent activities.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Yes I read it

      Baffled by some of these comments to the extent that I suspect some of them may be pushing an agenda.

      Not just the 12 million there is over 100 pages of detail.

      The massive and spirilling transition costs, booking future revenue and alleged insider trading.

      I would have thought no one could be that brazen to do this, but I have seen it myself at another company I worked for and it was never exposed.

  5. Winkypop Silver badge
    Coat

    Cat's out of the bag!

    ...Mark Garfield as defendant.

    The lawsuit was brought by a bloke called James Felix.

    Meooooow!

    1. chivo243 Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: Cat's out of the bag!

      @Winkypop

      Garfield and Felix in the same court case! Felix would win, he as a bag of tricks!

      Yes, my coat, right behind you!

    2. Tigra 07
      Devil

      Re: Cat's out of the bag!

      12 million dollars can buy a lot of lasagna!

  6. FlamingDeath Silver badge

    $diety

    Money is a terrible incentive

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Umm..

    alleging its top brass fraudulently massaged the company's financial figures.

    Can someone give me an instance where massaging the figures is *not* fraudulent? Is the result not always misrepresentation? Just curious.

  8. Tree

    Norton, McAfee and now Symantec

    Are these employees wacked out or just crooked John David McAfee is clearly wacked. Anyone know about Peter Norton? He was sane and good, too.

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