Reyes Should Get No More than 21 Months for Backdating, Judge Says

A federal judge has recommended a sentence of 15 to 21 months in prison for former Brocade Communications CEO Gregory Reyes, convicted of fraud for stock options backdating.

The recommendation was in an opinion by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer that was unsealed last week, Financial Times reports. Federal prosecutors had recommended a maximum 10-year sentence.

The San Francisco judge has delayed his final sentencing decision. In the meantime, Reyes’ lawyers have filed a motion for a new trial that says one of the government’s key witnesses has recanted her testimony, the Recorder reports.

Finance employee Elizabeth Moore testified that people in her department did not know about backdating because they were deceived by Reyes, but that assertion conflicts with statements made to others, the motion alleges. Moore is now saying that she and others in her department knew of backdating, but didn’t think there was anything wrong with it, the motion says.

Moore did not testify in the trial of former human resources chief HR chief Stephanie Jensen, who was convicted in the backdating scheme last week.