RIM settles options kerfuffle with SEC

An SEC inquiry into whether their options-granting practices were on the square has concluded for Research In Motion, which has -- jointly with four of its senior executives -- entered into two settlements over the matter.

Co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, former CFO Dennis Kavelman, and former VP of finance Angelo Loberto, along with the company as an entity, were accused of backdating stock options -- a situation that got them into hot water with both Canadian and American regulators. Last week the Ontario Securities Commission announced that it had reached a deal with the company and the four named execs plus other members of the board of directors.

As part of that, the four executives named will pay CD$38.3 million to the firm for the backdating, CD$44.1 million for the costs of the internal investigation that followed, and CD$9.1 to the OSC. (Some of the funds due back to RIM have already been paid.) Kavelman is also prohibited from acting as a director or officer of any Canadian reporting issuer until five years after the OSC signs off on the settlement; Loberto is forbidden to act as a director or officer of any Canadian reporting issuer until he completes an OSC-approved course concerning the duties of directors and officers of public companies. Balsillie will be taking a year off from his post on the company's board of directors.

Tuesday's SEC announcement concerned the same backdating situation. RIM is not required to pay any penalty for its role. The four executives will jointly pay $1.425 million in penalties (in addition to the restitution previously paid to the company), and Kavelman and Loberto will be similarly prohibited from acting as acting as officers or directors of any company filing reports with the SEC.

The executives were not required to admit or deny the allegations in the SEC complaint.