To be sure, executives may not have cashed in those shares and options last year.

Since then, Northwest has posted four years of record profits and its executives have cashed in stock options worth millions.

At a bank there, the executive cashed the check, got a cashier's check and immediately deposited it in a Leslie Fay account.

The company said he and other top executives could not cash their options for at least four years.

In some high-profile instances, executives cashed in their stock options, while under their stewardship their companies lost millions of dollars and thousands of workers were laid off.

The pilots accused Northwest of dragging its feet while the airline racked up record profits and its top executives cashed in stock options worth millions.

"It means executives can't cash in their options, dump and run."

That meant the executives could not cash in those options until the stock hit $75.

Earlier this month the top two executives at Walt Disney cashed in a record $253 million worth of personal share options.

Reporters and federal investigators are now asking if the topmost executives of Computer Associates cashed in by overstating revenue and profit growth.