Cablevision Systems Corp. will receive $24.4 million from a group that includes current and former directors as part of a settlement in a lawsuit alleging stock-options backdating.
Shareholders filed the suit in November 2006 after an internal investigation uncovered backdating that took place from 1997 to 2002. Perhaps the most egregious impropriety occurred when Cablevision issued options to a vice chairman after he died in 1999, but the backdating made it appear the grant was awarded while he was alive.
Sixteen people – directors and an outside consultant – will repay $24.4 million, Cablevision said on Thursday. Cablevision’s insurance company will pay an additional $10 million.
