The article was stating that the employees who exercised their options didn't actually gain any cash. They paid taxes on the "value" of the shares they received (converting from options to actual stock), and not on any real sweet cash money. I think the point is that for most of these people, even if parts of that loss may be recoverable later on (not sure about that), being out $40k - $100k+ on what was a badly misrepresented liklihood stings against execs getting their preference and bonus pool shares. The incentives did not line up, like their press release conflated.