By Larry Neumeister
Associated Press
Friday, February 16, 2007; D02

NEW YORK, Feb. 15 -- A former senior vice president of the company that runs the Monster job-search Web site admitted in court Thursday that he illegally backdated millions of dollars in employee stock option grants.

Myron Olesnyckyj, 45, faces up to 25 years in prison and fines of more than $5.2 million after pleading guilty to securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud. His guilty plea was part of an agreement in which he promised to cooperate fully in return for leniency.

Olesnyckyj said his crimes occurred between 1996 and 2006, when he agreed with others at the company to backdate options and hide the action from federal regulatory agencies and investors. He agreed to forfeit $381,000, which he said was the amount he gained from the scheme.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday filed a civil complaint against Olesnyckyj for securities fraud in connection to backdating.

The charges were the first for a Monster executive related to the backdating scandal at the company, which overstated the value of its earnings by more than $250 million between 1997 and 2005. Backdating involves issuing stock options retroactively to coincide with low points in the share price, thus boosting payouts. It can be illegal if it is not properly accounted for and disclosed to investors.

Monster Worldwide, whose job site competes with newspaper classifieds, is among scores of companies whose stock options backdating practices have been investigated by federal authorities.

The company announced in July that it might need to restate its finances to record additional charges for stock options expenses, and in September it said it had suspended Olesnyckyj, who also was general counsel and secretary, while it reviewed past stock options grant practices. It dismissed him two months later.

In October, Monster said former chief executive Andrew J. McKelvey had resigned from its board after refusing to be interviewed for an internal investigation on the options practice.

Monster also received a subpoena from the U.S. attorney's office in the Southern District of New York over stock options.

It said in December that it filed restated financial statements to include charges related to the investigation into its stock option granting.