After the SEC accused Henry Nicholas and Henry Samueli, founders of chipmaker Broadcom, of illegally backdating stock options for five years, Samueli stepped down as board chairman and CTO. Nicholas had stepped down from his post as CEO in 2003 amidst allegations of having a drug habit and flying friends and prostitutes from around the country to an underground party lair he'd built in his home.

Federal prosecutors allege former Monster.com president and COO James Treacy bolstered the value of his company stock options through illegal backdating, which is when executives retroactively fix the books so it looks like they were granted company shares at a lower value than where they actually traed, increasing their take when they sell. Treacy received a total of $23 million exercising his company stock options but about $13.5 million came from "the in-the-money portion of backdated option grants," prosecutors allege. The Securities and Exchange Commission filed seperate charges against Treacy. "Mr. Treacy is completely innocent of these charges and looks forward to being vindicated at trial," his lawyer told the WSJ. And really, how can you not trust a mug like his?