Crooked ex-Take Two CEO Avoids The Big House

Crooked ex-Take Two CEO Avoids The Big House

August 6, 2007
Although he committed stock option fraud on a massive scale, Ryan Brant has avoided prison time.

As reported by Bloomberg News,  the disgraced former Take Two CEO copped a plea, cooperated with prosecutors and agreed to pony up $7.3 million to federal and state agencies.

Brant will also serve five years on probation.

It would appear that Brant's cooperation may have helped lead prosecutors to a pair of other Take Two employees. Former General Counsel Kenneth Selterman and ex-Chief Accounting Officer Patti Tay also plead guilty.

Brant, 35, told the judge:
I'm deeply sorry for my role as an executive in the company and my role in the options dating process.

GP:  It's disheartening to see a guy who stole millions of dollars avoiding jail. We'll bet the ranch that some of the little fish caught up in last week's mod chip sweep end up doing time.

Comments

Aw come on! He woulda gotten so much street cred when making another crime game if he went to jail!
I will say it again. FUCK THE US GOVERNMENT!

Do I need to cite reasons in order for my comment to be allowed on here? I am sick of seeing these evil motherfuckers got off easy when ordinary people get completely fucked by their government everyday.
@ZippyDSMlee-

thank you Lou Dobbs! :P
And what happens to the border guards that were doing their job? they lost their fcking life's and jobs and are locked up and this fcker gets off scot free?

oh fcking Christ HEIL!!HEIL!!HEIL!! to the republican Reich!

oh wait hes not part of the libby scandle..........

gaaa I need glasses >
Duly noted Andrew, although, the ramifications of the raids will not be known for a while and I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop on the customer lists.

As for hefty fines, they're only hefty if the guy doesn't have millions, or even just a spare million stashed away somwhere. Even an outright pirate that was caught last May only paid $1,200 in fines, which is a LOT to me but he made $266,000 from his illegal business.

But yeah, I hear you guys loud and clear. The bad man got spanked, and probably adequately and fairly so. Case closed :)
-Pay $7.3 million by October.

-Probation for 5 years.

-Banned from management positions.

It's a good thing Brant wasn't pirating software too, he may have got the chair.

In all seriousness though, I highly doubt any of last weeks "little fish" (like the guy with one mod chip) will spend more than a weekend in jail. Just enough to drive home the fact that this is a no-no. Not horribly unjust, I think.


Andrew Eisen
@Dave, I know I know... just reminds me of Enron in some ways and the prevailing thought then [and now] was, white collar criminals get an easy trip through the justice system while regular folks have a much harder time.
I'm loathe to come down hard on the DA for letting this guy off. Yeah, backdating options was a crappy thing to do, but he did plead guilty, and he did cooperate with investigators. Besides, $7.3 million isn't chump change.

As to the mod chip thing, that's a whole different story being handled by a whole different set of people. If anything comes of it, I'm going to be very upset.
He really should have gotten an ankle bracelet for the rest of his life out of the deal. Like that Wal-Mart corporate monster that got convicted awhile back.
Isn't America great, in a country where if you're rich and you steal millions of dollars, all you have to do is gave some of the money you stole to the government and you don't go to jail..... I'm moving
@Terminator44

well those cases were somewhat huge, if they were sentenced as innocent people would roar against it.
"They" have to keep room in the jails for the mod-chip importers/installers...
@Terminator44

Thanks for the interesting read. Those were also cases that had HUGE mainstream attention, do you think that their outcome was influenced by the amount of coverage? If Ryan Brant was getting railed on national TV would he be in jail as well?
GP, you should have included the reason in full why he's getting probation:

Brant, 35, pleaded guilty in February to falsifying business records. As part of a plea agreement with Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, he avoided prison time by cooperating with an investigation of illegal backdating at the company, the maker of ``Grand Theft Auto'' video games.

``This is a good reminder in an atmosphere where corporate heads are being sent to lengthy prison terms that, if you cooperate and you own up, you will be rewarded for your efforts,'' said former prosecutor Thomas Curran, a white collar defense lawyer at Ganfer & Shore in New York.

More than 200 companies have disclosed internal or federal probes into whether they inflated the value of options awarded to executives by backdating or timing the grants to coincide with days when their stock price was low.
@Tyler

Thanks 4 the spam. Fuck off & die plz kthxbye.
Make games about criminality... become a corporate criminal yourself. Jack was right, video games do lead to crime, if you are a Take 2 stooge anyway.
check out this story that shows the democratic candidates in quite the unpleasant light, http://www.mypetpeeves.com/plog/index.php/archives/2807
I think they should have come down on this guy harder. Basically he got off by saying, "I'm sorry. I will never do it again. Pwomise."
What rich, executive criminal ever goes to jail? This is some chronic bullshit, and there is nothing we can do about it
@ John

Have you ever heard of white and blue collar crime differentiation ?

Sadly we live in a society which hold a highly corrupted system.
Where to buy latest Paris Hilton sex tape on internet...

Recently leaked footage of the new Paris Hilton sex tape...

Post new comment

By posting comments on this Web site you agree to abide by the Comments Policy.
The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.

More information about formatting options

CAPTCHA
This image is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. The letters in the picture are all UPPER-CASE.
Image CAPTCHA
Copy the characters (respecting upper/lower case) from the image.

GamePolitics ShoutBox

Posted 07/04/08 at 08:47pm
eraserheadthelynch: as much as we hate thompson hes only human and he looked happy accepting tha t award
Posted 07/04/08 at 03:38pm
Shadow Darkman Anti-Thesis of : (I know that was late but better late than never.)
Posted 07/04/08 at 03:38pm
Shadow Darkman Anti-Thesis of : Everyone! Quick! Repent! The Apocalypse approaches! Jack Thompson has been honored for his deeds! *screams and faints*
Posted 07/04/08 at 03:12pm
JustChris: The parade was a false hope for jack...an ego boost is an ego boost.
Posted 07/04/08 at 02:33pm
Silencets: Read the comments in the Editorial...JT himself in all of his asinine glory was there, as well as details on the parade
Posted 07/04/08 at 02:24pm
BlackIce: What?
Posted 07/04/08 at 01:59pm
Silencets: I still can't believe JT was in a parade...
Posted 07/04/08 at 11:01am
BlackIce: Frank, I watch that when contemplating armed robbery.
Posted 07/04/08 at 10:49am
ZippyDSM: Monolith: get a name yet? *yawns* was no on much yestersday.
Posted 07/04/08 at 10:45am
Frank: To prepare myself for the agony of writing a long reply I'm watching that clip from FOX news about the torture game 2.
Posted 07/04/08 at 10:43am
Frank: After reading Jack's reply I think that at some point today I'm gonna have to give him my own reply.
Posted 07/04/08 at 10:42am
eraserheadthelynch: i think noel was on super skunk [cannabis] himself when he made that comment
Posted 07/04/08 at 10:24am
Jack Wessels: Haha, Thompson finally replied to the edatorial. Much lulz.
Posted 07/04/08 at 10:20am
gamepolitics: heh... GP is like a shark. Can never stop.
Posted 07/04/08 at 10:19am
Belgarion89: @GP Dude, they made you work on the 4th? That's harsh!
Posted 07/04/08 at 09:24am
eraserheadthelynch: GOD BLESS AMERICA HAPPY 4TH[even though England is better
Posted 07/04/08 at 07:48am
beemoh: @ConstantNeophyte: Of course! It's not games that turn people into killers, it's kills that turn people into gamers!
Posted 07/04/08 at 05:47am
GRIZZAM PRIME: Happy 4th of July!!!
Posted 07/04/08 at 12:56am
eraserheadthelynch: @ConstantNeophyte i thought it was a parady when i read that wow thats so dumb
Posted 07/04/08 at 12:04am
Frank: I figured out something more "horrible" then the tortue game two. First read about Jack Thompson then watch Fox news.
Login or register to post shouts