However the scandal threatens to claim the scalps of some corporate high flyers. The investigation could target up to 80 companies.
The first charges have been filed against the former chief executive of Brocade Communications Systems Gregory Reyes and his former vice president of human resources Stephanie Jensen.
Allegations focus on options backdating, an obscure practice of manipulating the dates on an option that gives employees the right to buy shares at a set price to make the profits more lucrative.
Under the scheme, the options' original "strike dates" would be brought back through paperwork manipulation to a point in time when the stock price was lowest.
The recipient would reap the maximum profit at the time of sale - a lucrative deal during the late 1990s technology stocks extravaganza.
The charges do not allege that Mr Reyes and Mr Jensen did this to enrich themselves.
Back dating scheme
Prosecutors claim the aim was to attract employees amid cutthroat competition for qualified computer engineers during the recent tech boom that engulfed Northern California.
But they still face up to 20 years in prison and A$6.65 million in fines.
"The criminal charges filed today allege that this back-dating scheme contributed to the restatements of hundreds of millions of dollars of Brocade's financial results," US Attorney Kevin Ryan said Thursday in San Francisco.
"It is integral to the public trust in our financial markets that books and records are maintained honestly, and that the true financial condition of public companies is disclosed accurately," he said.
US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Christopher Cox said the stock-option backdating scheme was carried out at Brocade for four years, ending in 2004.
The tactic doled out illicit rewards to hundreds of employees and inflated Brocade's earnings by more than a billion US dollars in one year alone, he said.
"It strikes at the heart of confidence in financial markets and deceives share holders," Mr Cox said of stock-option backdating. "It is poisonous to an efficient marketplace."
The practice is not illegal if it is revealed to shareholders and recorded in the company's accounts. The SEC alleges this was not the case with Brocade.
Ongoing SEC investigations into reports of the practice at more than 80 companies nationwide are expected "to lead to more enforcement actions in the coming weeks and months," Mr Cox said.
The probes are unwelcome news in a corporate world just calming from the storms created by the Enron and WorldCom scandals.
The great names of US business like Apple Computer and The Home Depot have already been linked to the inquiry.