Too Late for Forgiveness?
from January/February 2003
Back in 1997, SDL Inc. loaned Gregory P. Dougherty, its chief operating officer, $612,000, interest-free, to buy a house. As per the terms of the loan, the company, now part of JDS Uniphase, forgave most of the sum incrementally over the following years. But on August 31, 2002, when Dougherty left the company, JDS forgave him the $239,790 balance as well. Was that legal? The move came a month after the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which bans forgiveness of such loans, became law. Will Dougherty have to repay the money? Who knows?
