February 14, 2007
Reuters is reporting that former Take-Two CEO Ryan Brant entered a guilty plea today on charges that he manipulated stock options.Brant will pay $7.3 million to settle cases brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Manhattan District Attorney's office. In a statement, Brant said:
I am deeply sorry for my role in the inappropriate manner Take-Two granted incentive stock options. I accept responsibility for my actions, and apologize to the company's shareholders.
Business Week has more, including word that Brant, who could have received a four-year prison sentence for his crimes, will likely receive probation when he is sentenced in August.
Last month Take-Two announced the results of an internal investigation which revealed that Brant, who left the company in October, had manipulated options.
GamePolitics has learned that the Manhattan D.A. will be holding a press conference at noon today. More details should be forthcoming at that time.



Comments
Mostly, it's the Shareholders who will suffer, not a good PR situation for R*, but then they seem to surf the opinion envelope anyway, so I don't see it hurting them in the long term to be honest, it's not as if they are the first ever company to have it's management caught dabbling.
Rockstar has got nothing to do with it. It is Take Two that got those problems. Rockstar just makes the games, Take Two is the publisher.
I meant Take 2 :)
Least they are cleaning house.