SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch)--A federal appeals court on Friday
overturned the prior convictions of McAfee's former chief financial
offer on securities fraud and making false statements.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued an
opinion finding that no jury could have found Prabhat Goyal, who
served as McAfee's (MFE) CFO when it was still known as Network
Associates, guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Goyal was convicted in 2007 of supervising accounting at the
security software developer that misstated revenue between 1998 and
2000 by prematurely recognizing it. He resigned in 2001.
However, the appeals court ruled Friday that lacking any proof
that Goyal willfully concealed information from the company's
auditors, his convictions must be reversed.
"The government shouldn't have brought charges [against Goyal]
unless it had clear evidence of wrongdoing, and the trial judge
should have dismissed the case when the prosecution rested and it
was clear the evidence could not support a conviction," Chief Judge
Alex Kozinski wrote in a concurring opinion.
"Although we now vindicate Mr. Goyal, much damage has been done.
One can only hope that he and his family will recover from the
ordeal," Kozinski wrote.
Goyal had been convicted on 15 counts of committing securities
fraud, filing false reports with the Securities & Exchange
Commission, and making false statements to auditors.
He was sentenced to a year and a day in prison in 2008, but was
free on bail pending the appeal.
Network Associates changed its name to McAfee in 2004.
-By John Letzing; 415-439-6400; AskNewswires@dowjones.com