Google's legal counsel pays SEC fine; what about other Google employees?

It's hard to find a nick in Google Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GOOG) shining armor these days, sans the great quarter it just had. Although many media pundits shunned Google after its recent earnings were announced (dropping the stock more than $35 overnight), the Internet search leader continues to beat up on the competition and do very well with all the tentacles it has across the Internet right now. Most of its revenue still comes from text advertising, but more divisions are finally starting to pick up some revenue weight.

But in what I consider to be a small blemish on Google's picture-perfect financial resume so far, its chief legal officer -- David Drummond -- will be paying an SEC fine of $700,000 for his past role as the CFO of SmartForce. The beef surrounds the overstatement of revenue at his former company. Egad, what does this say about his current role as chief counsel of Google, Inc.? In fact, with Google on a hiring tear recently, what other secrets are some Google employees hiding? With the company under such an extreme financial limelight, will more possible underhanded tactics from the former gigs of current employees surface? Stay tuned for that.

Right now, Drummond is not directly responsible for financial statements at the Internet search behemoth, but this SEC fine does cast a little bit of worry on Drummond's past. $700,000 is not but a drop in the bucket from a monetary standpoint, but the trust questions that result from a situation like this in fact do crop up. Feel like sleuthing into Google's executive ranks further to uncover some more dirt? To those wanting Google to take a very public fall for something, don't think these efforts are not underway. So far, most of the company is pretty darn clean, though.

In reference to Drummond, Google CEO Eric Schmidt stated in an email that "we are pleased that David and the SEC have reached a settlement that brings closure to matters which occurred more than six years ago. David has been an important part of Google's growth and success and we look forward to his continued contributions." Six years ago was quite a while, but it does not erase the fact of why Drummond agreed to pay almost three-quarters of a million in SEC fines.