Real Time Media

It always amazes me how fast the news cycles move. The build up, accusations and drama that surround the trial are followed by the spike in buzz once the verdict is announced then silence. Not for the defendant and his family but for everyone else involved. I wonder what happens next? An appeal? A settlement? Another Trial? Was justice really served? What was actually achieved? A man was convicted for an accounting standard that no longer exists for expenses that were non-cash and appears to be the only one in America who is going to go down for this type of alleged crime.  If the system really worked a group of CEO peers with finance experience would have been convened and would have heard the case then told us if this really mattered. But, until the system is fixed the verdict stands. I’ll keep everyone posted on the appeal as it progresses.

Today the government had one of it’s special agents reading a couple press releases into evidence and then rested its case! With that, the jury has the rest of this week and next week off.

Upon entering the courtroom today I witnessed the judge informing both the defense and the prosecution that if the testimony they were going to try to extract from Fujimoto was more examples of the other companies having APB25 issues then continuing to question him was unnecessary.

Reeves states that the APB 25 rule was implied when working with stock options at Brocade.  Miotto says “To the best of my recollection, yes” they followed all  rules of APB 25.

Def. Atty. Neal states “So is it true that Greg Reyes never told you to withhold information from the finance department, the auditors, the lawyers, any outside council (Sonsini) or the Board of Directors?”  Beyer, “Correct.”  Neal, “And backdating was not designed to mislead shareholders?” Beyer, “Correct.”

Beyer admitted that is was his own speculation that led him to think Jensen wanted to cover an “audit trail”, she never actually used those words.

It turns out Beyer has previously testified that the Garrison start date was paperwork done between Garrison and Byrd.  Reyes had nothing to do with it.  Why is his story changing now?

Stephen Beyer was with Brocade for only 8 months in the Human Resource Department.  He clearly described (in great detail) the process in which backdating occurred.  However, backdating seems like a regularized process amongst many of the Valley’s companies.

Again, it has been proven that associates in the Human Resources Department were the ones “looking back” and selecting dates and prices to send to Greg Reyes for signature.  Can Reyes not trust his own employees?  Why is everything coming back on just him?

They are different methodologies, however both principally designed to deliver full evaluations of stock options.  So why does it matter which one you use?

R. Deranleau, Brocade’s Controller, said he expected HR to explain the method of granting the stock options to him.  They did not, he said it could have helped better the financing.

Judge Breyer uses an example of  raining outside.  Not sure the “jury got it”, but it made perfect sense to me.

Judge Breyer is really on top of the evidence being admitted.  He’s extremely sharp.  I don’t know how he does it…

One issue that previous Brocade employees testified to was the Part Time employment to be granted stock options.  Today’s witness, M. Lee, testifies that the Part Time program was designed by Stephanie Jensen (VP of Human Resources), Mike Byrd (CFO) and Wilson Sonsini (Brocade’s Lawyer) and that they all stated that there was no problem with the program.  So, again, why are the fingers being pointed at Greg Reyes?

Weaver testifies during an examination by the prosecution that while alone in Reyes office he said, “It’s not illegal if you don’t get caught.”  When defense cross examines her it turns out she’s not quite sure what “It’s” was?  Attorney Steve Neal states so for all you remember “It’s” could have been a traffic ticket he was referring to?  Her answer was “Correct.”

After being examined and then cross examined the witness, Cuevas, breaks down and begins to cry.  A bit dramatic if you ask me?

Today was a new day.  The court room was definitely not as crowded as it was yesterday, the first day.  Reyes seems a bit more chipper today, possibly because his defense team did a good job yesterday?  The defense looks calm and collected while the prosecution appears to be gathering last minute ideas?

The prosecution states that Greg Reyes built Brocade into a “Silicon Valley Success Story”, but Greg Reyes went too far and crossed the line.  Rules didn’t apply to him, and Greg Reyes put his interests above stockholders.  However, we have yet to see the evidence to prove their case.  Let’s see what the prosecution has to prove Reyes’ fraud.  As the defense states, where is the “linkage’?

Defense Attorney Stephen Neal was telling a story about how his children were playing hide and seek….Pros Anderson objected to relevance….and Judge Breyer said he’d like to hear how it turned out and cracked up everyone much to dismay of the Prosecution.  Very funny….

the crowd hushes as greg reyes just entered the courtroom.