Mar. 5--Federal regulators charged Sunrise-based Pediatrix Medical Group, now known as Mednax, with backdating stock options for executives and employees from 1997 to 2000.

Without admitting or denying the allegations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mednax settled the case by promising not do such back-dating in the future.

The SEC complaint said the back-dating was done by a "now-deceased former senior financial officer" who "granted options at below-market prices." The complaint alleged that Pediatrix's SEC filings failed to recognize $8.8 million in compensation expense because of the hidden back-dating.

In August 2007, Pediatrix's audit committee placed much of the blame on former Chief Financial Officer Lawrence M. Mullen.

An attorney for Mullen told The Miami Herald at the time that "the CEO was fully apprised as to the entire program."

The chief executive is Roger Medel. In a news release in 2007, the company said, "The audit committee believes that Dr. Medel was not aware of the accounting implications of such grants" and that he "reasonably relied" on other executives to administer the grants.

Zuckerman Spaeder, the law firm that represented Mullen, confirmed that he died several months ago.

Mednax provides physician services primarily in neonatal and anesthesiology. In a filing with the SEC Thursday afternoon, the company noted: "The settlement does not require the payment of any civil penalty, fine, or money damages."

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