Media Mentions
2008
Matthew J. Jacobs was quoted on October 3 by Law360 in an article regarding the FBI's investigation into the role brokers, appraisers, buyers, mortgage lenders and major financial institutions have played in creating the credit crisis. Mr. Jacobs noted that while political pressure and competition among prosecutors may increase the number of investigations that are initiated, that doesn't necessarily mean an increase in the number of criminal prosecutions. "When stock options was the rage a couple of years ago, you saw a big fight over turf among different U.S. attorneys offices and some competition there to see who could issue a subpoena to a potential offending company faster. And you saw a lot of subpoenas go out, very few of which have resulted in filed cases," he said.
Matthew J. Jacobs was quoted in the October 3 issue of USA Today in an article regarding the Wall Street bailout bill. While the bill allows for oversight, Mr. Jacobs noted that it remains to be seen how regulators and lawmakers will use their power. "The real test will be how individuals involved in oversight choose to exercise their authority," he said. Mr. Jacobs noted that because the bill was passed so quickly, "there almost certainly will be potential for fraud and abuse."
Matthew J. Jacobs, Finance & Banking, Trial
Matthew J. Jacobs was quoted on June 10 in The National Law Journal regarding the role of general counsel in the U.S. government's investigations of companies and executives involved in stock options backdating. Mr. Jacobs noted that the issue of privilege is particularly complicated in backdating investigations. A controversial 2006 proposal would have created selective waiver in Federal Rules of Evidence 502, allowing companies to partially waive privilege to cooperate with government investigators but not share the information with anyone else. The proposal failed because the government could insist on disclosure from companies protected by partial waivers. "The privilege issues coming out of backdating are significant and they are troublesome. You want companies to be able to investigate allegations of wrongdoing and want them to report to the board and discuss with auditors without waiving privilege."
Matthew J. Jacobs, SEC Defense, Trial
2007
Matthew J. Jacobs was quoted in an August 11 article published by The San Jose Mercury News regarding the impact of the jury decision to convict Greg Rayes of security fraud in the first criminal case associated with stock-option backdating. As a former U.S. attorney for the Northern District, Mr. Jacobs commented that there are still many cases in which the Justice department hasn't made a decision about whether or not to pursue criminal charges. "Certainly, everyone involved in these cases has taken note of the jury's verdict, and the government will probably be emboldened to bring more criminal cases," Mr. Jacobs said.
Matthew J. Jacobs, SEC Defense, Trial, White-Collar Criminal Defense
Matthew J. Jacobs was quoted in the May 23 edition of the Daily Journal in an article regarding the choice of the federal government to pursue options backdating charges against Gregory Reyes, former CEO of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., and not against current Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs. Mr. Jacobs commented on the possibility that the SEC may or may not have enough evidence to fully prosecute Steve Jobs. "These things are always going to turn on the nuances," he said.
Matthew J. Jacobs, SEC Defense, Trial, White-Collar Criminal Defense
Matthew J. Jacobs was quoted in the January 11 issue of The Seattle Times in an article about the charges against private investigator Bryan Wagner for his involvement in the HP probe. Mr. Jacobs commented that the way Wagner was charged suggests that he is cooperating with investigators. "The government likes to start at the lowest point in the chain of responsibility and flip people…to build the case against those more senior," he said.
Matthew J. Jacobs, Corporate Responsibility, Trial, White-Collar Criminal Defense
2006
Matthew J. Jacobs was quoted by USA Today on December 12 regarding the Justice Department's new guidelines that could curb prosecutors in their fight against corporate crime. Mr. Jacobs called the guidelines a real helpful correction, commenting, "The government has had so much power and discretion that it overplayed its hand."
Matthew J. Jacobs, Corporate Responsibility, Trial
Matthew J. Jacobs was quoted in the November 27 issue of The National Law Journal on white-collar federal prosecutions. Mr. Jacobs commented that the statistics, which indicate a 31 percent decrease of white-collar federal prosecutions compared to levels reported in 2001, are surprising. "Maybe they [government investigations] are not resulting in prosecutions, but there is a tremendous amount of activity." The numbers could represent "a lull before the storm," continued Mr. Jacobs.
Matthew J. Jacobs, Corporate Responsibility - White Collar, Trial, White-Collar Criminal Defense
Matthew J. Jacobs was quoted by The Los Angeles Times on November 16 regarding continued executive terminations surrounding alleged option manipulation. Mr. Jacobs commented, "The reason that companies typically terminate executives is to take a step to avoid prosecution of the company itself."
Matthew J. Jacobs, Corporate Responsibility, Trial
Matthew J. Jacobs was quoted in an October 24 article published by Bloomberg regarding an ongoing options backdating investigation at Comverse Technology, Inc. Former Comverse CFO David Kreinberg is the first executive to plead guilty, but as part of a plea deal, he implicated former Comverse CEO Jacob Alexander. Mr. Jacobs discussed the government's use of plea agreements to convince executives to conspire against higher ranking executives. "It's always helpful to the government to have someone on the inside who can give life to documents and explain from the insider's [perspective] what occurred," he said.
Matthew J. Jacobs, Corporate Responsibility, Trial
Matthew J. Jacobs was quoted in the October 14 edition of The San Francisco Chronicle in an article discussing the extent to which federal agencies are investigating options backdating allegations and related criminal charges. He commented on how the government is allowing companies to perform internal investigations. "The government has given companies some leeway to do their own investigations," he said. "So you are seeing a rash of public statements, restatements, resignations and firings as companies position themselves to deal with the government."
Matthew J. Jacobs, Corporate Responsibility, Trial
Matthew J. Jacobs was quoted in the October 4 issue of The San Jose Mercury News in an article regarding the investigation into the legality of HP's board investigations. Mr. Jacobs said that the case against Patricia Dunn and other HP executives comes down to poor judgment. "It doesn't reach the heart of the company's business like the Enron case did," he said.
Matthew J. Jacobs, Corporate Responsibility, Trial
Matthew J. Jacobs was quoted in the September 21 issue of The San Jose Mercury News in an article regarding potential charges brought against individuals involved in the recent Hewlett-Packard pretexting investigation. Mr. Jacobs commented on the difference between bad judgment and committing a crime. "If the facts are that these people got legal opinions that these practices were acceptable, it's going to be very difficult for the government to bring a criminal case," he said.
Matthew J. Jacobs, Corporate Responsibility, Trial
Matthew J. Jacobs was quoted in the September 21 edition of MarketWatch in an article regarding Hewlett Packard's (HP) release agreement with two former directors whereby HP and the former directors agreed to not sue each other. Mr. Jacobs commented on the agreement, which also provides that HP pay any legal expenses incurred by the former directors due to legal or governmental inquiries stemming from the highly publicized HP pretexting matter. "It's not usual for a company to do something like this in this type of situation," he said.
Matthew J. Jacobs, Corporate Responsibility, Trial
Matthew J. Jacobs was quoted in the September 19 issue of The New York Times in an article regarding potential charges brought against individuals involved in the recent Hewlett-Packard pretexting investigation. Mr. Jacobs commented on the argument that California prosecutors would have to prove in order to find the individuals involved guilty. "Poor supervision is not a crime," he mentioned.
Matthew J. Jacobs, Corporate Responsibility, Trial
Matthew J. Jacobs was quoted in the September 14 issue of the Washington Post in an article regarding options backdating probes. Mr. Jacobs commented that businesses in Silicon Valley, many of which are currently being investigated, were growing quickly and did not have experienced in-house accounting and legal expertise. "Young companies…do not necessarily have a long tradition of corporate governance," he mentioned, “and part of it is learning on the job."
Matthew J. Jacobs, Corporate Responsibility, Trial
Matthew J. Jacobs was quoted in the September 11 issue of Business Week in an article about the practices leading up to the options backdating-related legal issues. In reference to the 74 SEC inquiries and 49 criminal probes in this area, Mr. Jacobs commented, "It is unprecedented to have so many major corporations under investigation at one time."
Matthew J. Jacobs, Corporate Responsibility, Corporate Responsibility - White Collar, Trial, White-Collar Criminal Defense
Matthew J. Jacobs was quoted in the September 9 issue of the San Francisco Chronicle in an article on the federal government’s investigations of fraud and misrepresentation relating to Hewlett-Packard's hiring of private investigators to find the source of board leaks. Mr. Jacobs commented that it will be difficult to prove wrongdoing by Hewlett-Packard because of its use of a chain of contractors. "Each step (removed) makes it all that much more difficult to prove a case," he mentioned.
Matthew J. Jacobs, Corporate Responsibility, Corporate Responsibility - White Collar, Trial, White-Collar Criminal Defense
Matthew J. Jacobs was quoted in the August 9 issue of Red Herring on options backdating. In regard to charges against Comverse Technology executives, Mr. Jacobs commented, "What's interesting is that the government filed a criminal complaint as opposed to seeking an indictment. The significance of that is that by filing a criminal compliant, the government gets to spell out all its evidence in an affidavit."
Matthew J. Jacobs, Corporate Responsibility, Corporate Responsibility - White Collar, Trial, White-Collar Criminal Defense
Matthew J. Jacobs was quoted in the September 8 issue of the San Francisco Chronicle in an article about the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) joining other federal agencies in investigating companies for backdating options. Mr. Jacobs commented on the large amount of public attention focused on this area. "These federal agencies are not immune from wanting a part of such high-profile cases" he said.
Matthew J. Jacobs, Corporate Responsibility, Corporate Responsibility - White Collar, Trial, White-Collar Criminal Defense
Matthew J. Jacobs was quoted in the August 15 issue of The National Law Journal in an article regarding recent attacks on DOJ tactics in white-collar cases. Mr. Jacobs commented that the KPMG case and the U.S. Supreme Court's reversal of Andersen's conviction will have a strong effect on the government. "Challenging fee arrangements was always on the extreme end of what the government was doing in compelling companies to cooperate," he mentioned.
Matthew J. Jacobs, Corporate Responsibility, Corporate Responsibility - White Collar, Trial, White-Collar Criminal Defense
Dan Alberti, Fred Chilton, Anthony de Alcuaz, Dave Dolkas, Vera Elson, Matt Jacobs and Terry McMahon were named 2006 Northern California Super Lawyers—top lawyers chosen by their peers through independent research performed by Law & Politics magazine.
Daniel E. Alberti, Frederick Chilton, Anthony de Alcuaz, David Henry Dolkas, Vera M. Elson, Matthew J. Jacobs, Terrence P. McMahon
2005
Matthew Jacobs was quoted in the November 6 issue of the San Diego Union-Tribune regarding San Diego's engagement of Kroll to "do an internal investigation, identify wrongdoing, identify wrongdoers, recommend corrective actions and try to demonstrate to the government that the problems have been resolved."
