Chron’s Steffy smears Houston company : Lone Star Times

Chron’s Steffy smears Houston company

by Matt Bramanti · 02/09/2007 2:48 pm

In his column today, Loren Steffy slams a Houston-based insurer for an option backdating problem. In Chron fashion, it’s not particularly timely, since the matter at hand was resolved months ago:

Consider the case of Houston-based insurer HCC, which said in November an internal probe found it improperly dated options awarded to executives and directors back to 1995.

Its founder and chief executive, Stephen Way, and general counsel, Christopher Martin, resigned. The investigation found Way retroactively priced his own options to coincide with low points in HCC’s stock price. The tactic boosted the value of the options as HCC’s stock rose.

This is a situation where the company handled the problem in a tough and correct manner. HCC launched an investigation, gave the country’s best lawyers and forensic accountants carte blanche to pore over everything, and made tough decisions.

Last week, a shareholder sued the company over the backdating practices. The suit claims Way’s stock sales alone were almost $120 million, some of which came from the improper options grants.

Because investors suffered no apparent losses, the lawsuit asks simply that the company void the stock option plans for the officers and directors. It also wants those executives and board members to return their proceeds from stock sales — which it claims topped $183 million — to the company.

Don’t you have to have suffered damage to sue someone? This is like hiring an ambulance-chaser to sue a driver (and all the driver’s colleagues) for not causing an accident.

Despite that fact that the company has gotten rid of two major executives, including its founder, Steffy continues to make unfounded blanket allegations:

If they were willing to fudge a simple accounting entry, if they couldn’t tell investors the truth about when they awarded options, what else might they be willing to withhold or misrepresent?

Whatever the answer to that question is, it doesn’t matter. They’re gone, no longer managing the company.

But hey, Steffy had to write about something this week, right? And what better topic than taking old news and overinflating it in a smear job? That’s what Houston’s Leading Information Source™ does best.

FULL DISCLOSURE: My father is CEO of this company, and assumed that position after Way’s departure.

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Comments

11 Responses to “Chron’s Steffy smears Houston company”

malcolm on February 9th, 2007 at 3:24 pm

Well, back date my option! Firsties again!
Shannon on February 9th, 2007 at 3:49 pm

I knew it. Matt’s part of the government/media/military/insurance company complex.

Oh, how could you, Benzion?
fasternu426 on February 9th, 2007 at 3:56 pm

It looks like a problem was discovered and remedied. Where’s the problem with that? When are they going to fix the Chronicle?
Adee on February 10th, 2007 at 9:17 am

#3, First they gotta realize something is wrong, by golly. Their mantra must be they are always right, are moderates, and the evil conservatives are out to get them by decreasing their circulation. They are hopelessly double parked in the Twilight Zone.
rj on February 10th, 2007 at 10:24 am

aAre you sure bigjolly didn’t write this piece for the commical?
rj
Roger Aikers on February 10th, 2007 at 2:50 pm

*FULL DISCLOSURE: My father is CEO of this company, and assumed that position after Way’s departure.*

Kinda buried the lead, didn’t we?
txpatriot on February 10th, 2007 at 2:51 pm

Gee, as I recall, Stephen Way is (was?) a major Bush fundraiser. He also got Marvin Bush appointed to the HCC Board of Directors at a very large salary as well as a cherry stock option deal. My how incestuous the deviant elites are!!

America - One nation under fraud!
Matt 'Zilla' Bramanti, CPO™ on February 11th, 2007 at 11:30 pm

Yeah, Roger, I was really trying to hide something. Hence the boldface.
Matt 'Zilla' Bramanti, CPO™ on February 12th, 2007 at 12:14 am

Gee, as I recall, Stephen Way is (was?) a major Bush fundraiser.

Care to provide any evidence for this?

He also got Marvin Bush appointed to the HCC Board of Directors at a very large salary

Directors of public companies are not “appointed.” They’re elected by a majority vote of the shareholders.

And if you consider $28,000 to be a “very large salary,” you really need to seek better employment.
txpatriot on February 12th, 2007 at 9:56 am

#9

See: “Frauds-R-Us” The Bush Family Saga http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3336.htm
Matt 'Zilla' Bramanti, CPO™ on February 12th, 2007 at 10:16 am

TxPatriot, Information Clearing House is a tinfoil-hat antiwar website. It also defends Mahmoud Ahmadenijad, claiming he’s not a Holocaust denier.

But really, can you find any evidence about this “major Bush fundraiser” claim? FEC records show he gave the Bush campaign $2,000 in the 2004 election cycle.

But hey, if you think $28K is a “very large salary,” then I guess you think $2K makes someone a “major Bush fundraiser.”