SiliconBeat

The second line of the press release put out by Electronics for Imaging announcing a settlement of litigation against it relating to its “historic stock option granting practices” — translation: backdating — informs the reader that the agreement “does not contain any admission of fault or wrongdoing on the part of EFI or the individual defendants.”

But of course. Very, very few people have been at “fault” throughout this scandal, and those who have been fingered are very often non-executives who should have known better. (With a few notable exceptions, to be sure.)

A separate release by EFI says that the SEC has called off its dogs. The regulatory agency
notified EFI that it had “terminated the informal inquiry into EFI’s historical stock option
practices commenced by the SEC on November 7, 2006 and that no enforcement action had been
recommended.”

The settlement, which “is subject to notice to shareholders and to the approval” of the
court, is not detailed in the release, but it involves, “among other things,” the “receipt
by EFI of $5 million in insurance proceeds” — gee, sounds almost like a good thing, huh?,
“and the payment by EFI of approximately $3.08 million in plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees and
costs, as well as the adoption of certain remedial measures, including the cancellation and
repricing of certain stock options, certain payments to be made to the company and the
adoption of a number of changes to EFI’s corporate governance and procedures.”

“Certain payments to be made to the company” ? By whom and for what, we must wait to see.