One interesting thing is that these backdating schemes were caught out by statistics. As I understand it, at the time the regulatory regime was such that it cou

One interesting thing is that these backdating schemes were caught out by statistics. As I understand it, at the time the regulatory regime was such that it could be arranged easily that there be no documentary evidence that backdating had occurred - options grants were made by resolution of some internal company committee and documentation of this was filed after the fact. (Not sure if this is true today?). Thus this practice came to be one that 'everybody does, and gets away with'. But, some academics figured out that they could show statistically that options backdating was occurring: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Raquel-Alexander/publication/265405026_Print_Backdating_Employee_Stock_Options_Accounting_and_Legal_Implications/links/556da79b08aefcb861d92cb7/Print-Backdating-Employee-Stock-Options-Accounting-and-Legal-Implications.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Raquel-Alexander/public... and very quickly it became a huge legal issue for a lot of companies.