How serious is SEC in options probe?

Good question. Bloomberg News reports today that the crackdown on backdating is stuck because SEC Chairman Christopher Cox hasn't decided how to penalize San Jose-based Brocade Communications Systems Inc., which is the first company that the agency has really gone after. If true, it could bog down other investigations (perhaps including L.A.-based KB Home, which announced last week that the SEC has launched an inquiry into its backdating policies). But Cox told reporters that the investigations are proceding vigorously and that the agency is working closely with federal prosecutors. "This is a very aggressive program," Cox said. Besides KB, more than a dozen local companies have been implicated in the options scandal, though not all are being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.