After a five-week trial, former Brocade CEO Gregory L. Reyes was convicted by a federal court jury on 10 counts of conspiracy and fraud over illegal stock option backdating.

Mr. Reyes had been accused of intentionally changing the grant dates for hundreds of stock option awards without disclosing the move to investors. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 21st and Reyes could face up to 20 years in prison and millions of dollars in fines.

The conviction is expected to embolden prosecutors to pursue similar cases.

Back in May, Brocade agreed to pay $7 million to settle civil fraud charges in connection with backdating. Reyes’ alleged accomplice and Brocade’s former head of HR, Stephanie Jensen, is still awaiting trial.

Commentary:The conviction was not surprising to us. You can read the original SEC compliant here. A review of the document will show that the SEC had a very strong case and that Mr. Reyes was pretty much a one-man compensation committee. Now the only question left is how much prison time he will get (unlike Take-Two’s CEO, who got off with probation, we are predicting actual prison time in this case). We are sure that prosecutors are reinvigorated.