Computer Associates International has agreed to pay more than $200 million to avoid criminal prosecution in a massive accounting scandal, a federal law enforcement source told The Associated Press.
In addition, the former general counsel of Computer Associates (CA) is expected to plead guilty to securities fraud, conspiracy and obstruction of justice, according to the source, speaking on condition of anonymity. The settlement was expected to be announced in Washington.
The New York Post and New York Times reported that the company's former chairman and CEO also was expected to face criminal and civil charges, which would include securities fraud.
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Cracking the Whip:
The Motion Picture Association of America said on Wednesday it has sued a company that sells internet downloads of current movies like I, Robot and Spider-Man 2 without permission.
The trade group said Click Enterprises, through a series of websites, tricked consumers into believing they were paying for legal versions of movies when in fact those movies are not legally available in download form.
"These parasitic websites, which charge consumers fees and counsel them to break the law, reflect the worst elements of the pirate community," said John Malcolm, MPAA director of anti-piracy operations, in a press release.
The MPAA said it has sent cease-and-desist letters to similar websites based in the United States, Asia and Europe engaged in similar activity.
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Hunted: PeopleSoft has strengthened its ties with IBM, hoping to boost its recently sagging sales as it continues to fight Oracle's $7.7 billion hostile takeover bid.
The CEO of PeopleSoft (PSFT) announced the closer product relationship with IBM (IBM) during his keynote speech to thousands of customers attending an annual company conference being held against a backdrop of high anxiety raised by a recent court decision that bolstered Oracle's bid.
The speech marked the CEO's first public comments since a Sept. 9 antitrust decision cleared the way for Oracle (ORCL) to accelerate its relentless pursuit of PeopleSoft.
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Think indie: Nearly a year since it was sold by Vivendi Universal to private investors, online retailer eMusic has undergone a facelift that includes a panel of music critics to help users comb its trove of independent music.
The revamped service is the latest evolution for the pioneering retailer, the first to sell digital music files online in the late 1990s.
EMusic eschews copy protection technology as consumer-unfriendly, and caters to people whose tastes are largely ignored by mainstream music retailers.
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Unwired options: Belgium's Option said it will launch a new wireless data card targeted at the U.S. market in November.
Option, whose products allow laptop computers to connect to the internet through mobile telephone networks, said the new card accessed EDGE/GPRS networks common in the United States.
Option said the card would have a top data speed of 247 kilobits per second over an EDGE network, which is a speeded-up version of GPRS, a halfway house between traditional and third-generation mobile networks.
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Compiled by Laila Weir. AP and Reuters contributed to this report.
