The financial media this week is covering the settlement of the lawsuits between Dow Chemical Co. and two former executives, Romeo Kreinberg and J. Pedro Reinhard. One of the more interesting stories I've seen the past few days is in today's The New York Times business section, titled "Secret Life of a Deal."

The story looks at court documents and pieces together the timeline and players of "Project Achilles," the name the pair gave to their secret plan to try to take over Midland, Mich.-based Dow.

The story notes that "the case and its juicy depositions weren't just about two rogue employees. It pulled the curtain back on a netherworld of deal makers on various continents who had become wrapped up in this plot."

Some juicy tidbits from the story:

• If they had been successful, the pair would have ousted Dow CEO Andrew Liveris and made Kreinberg CEO and Reinhard chairman.
• The would-be takeover team tried to get Len Blavatnik, owner of Basell Polyolefins, to participate in the deal.
• Reinhard sought $5 million from the Sultanate of Oman to resign from Dow and work on the buyout.
• JPMorgan executives met with Kreinberg and Reinhard in secret at a hotel outside London, the Compleat Angler. The group had "hired entire hotel for confidentiality." Looks like a nice place. Let's hope they tipped well and made it worthwhile for the staff.

Most interesting to me is this question: What did the mutineers get for settling the case?

The answer isn't clear.

The Times reported that Dow paid the men "a substantial sum." But the Wall Street Journal quoted a company spokesman saying that Dow had "secured some of what it had sought in the lawsuit it filed last spring, including reducing the amount of equity compensation the men received during their employment at Dow. The spokesman also said Dow is not paying any damages that Kreinberg and Reinhard sought in defamation suits they filed against Dow last year."

But the WSJ report also quotes Reinhard's lawyer, Gary Naftalis, saying his client is "very satisfied with the financial aspects of the settlement."

Given the millions he hoped to pocket from this deal, I don't think Reinhard would be "very satisfied" with nothing.

I'm sure the numbers will come out eventually. If we've learned anything from this escapade, we know that eventually someone will talk.