Legal News

Broadcom's Samueli appeals rejection of plea deal over backdating

By Jason Siegel

Broadcom Corp. co-founder Henry Samueli, whose plea deal in the U.S. government's criminal case involving stock options backdating was rejected earlier this month, has appealed the ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Samueli, who is the former chief technical officer of the Irvine, Calif.-based broadband communications manufacturer, had agreed to a plea deal in June in which he would serve five years probation and pay a $250,000 fine, plus a $12 million payment to the U.S. Treasury. Samueli also admitted to making a false statement to the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission regarding his role in the granting of backdated stock options that ultimately caused Broadcom to restate more than $2.2 billion in January 2007.

Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney of the Central District of California rejected the deal, which he said would "erode the public's trust in the fundamental fairness of our justice system" and gives the perception that "justice is for sale." Samueli filed a notice of appeal on Sept. 22.

Carney originally had scheduled a hearing on the matter on Monday; that hearing was rescheduled for Oct. 14.

Gordon Greenberg, a partner in the Los Angeles office of McDermott, Will & Emery, who represents Samueli, did not return a call for comment.

-- Amanda Bronstad

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on October 01, 2008 (boomark / email).