Roberts

Kent Roberts, the former General Counsel of McAfee, Inc. (“McAfee”), alleges that McAfee maliciously prosecuted and defamed him in an attempt to deflect attention from large-scale backdating of stock options within the company. McAf ee moved to strike Roberts’ claims pursuant to California’s anti-Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation (“antiSLAPP”) statute. The district court denied the motion as to Roberts’ malicious prosecution claims, but granted it as to his claims for defamation and false light invasion of privacy. Both sides appeal. We conclude that Roberts has not demonstrated that his claims have the requisite degree of merit to survive McAfee’s antiSLAPP motion: McAfee had probable cause to believe Roberts was guilty of a crime, and Roberts’ claims for defamation and false light invasion of privacy are time-barred. Accordingly, we affirm in No. 10-15670, and reverse in No. 10-15561.

I. Background

Sometime late in 2000, Roberts allowed Terry Davis, McAfee’s Controller and Senior Vice President, to backdate 20,000 stock options that the company had issued to Roberts months earlier as a reward for a promotion (the “Promotion Grant”). Backdating refers…