Broadcom co-founder Samueli pleads guilty in stock options fraud case
The billionaire owner of the Anaheim Ducks is to be placed on probation for five years and pay a $12.2- million in fines and penalties.
Technology billionaire and philanthropist Henry Samueli pleaded guilty Monday to a felony charge of lying to regulators about his role in an alleged plot to secretly reward his Broadcom Corp. employees by manipulating stock options.
Under a deal with prosecutors, Samueli pleaded guilty in federal court in Santa Ana to making a false statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The government is recommending five years' probation and $12.2 million in fines and penalties at sentencing, scheduled for Aug. 18.
Samueli, 53, who also owns the Anaheim Ducks National Hockey League team, becomes the most prominent executive convicted in the federal investigation of the manipulation of stock options. His guilty plea Monday spares him jail time but complicates the legacy of one of Southern California's biggest philanthropists.
"There are people who come back from criminal convictions, but usually only after a long period of penance and full admission of responsibility," said John Coffee, a Columbia University law professor and expert in white-collar crime. "But if he continues to give away a billion dollars in a thoughtful manner, I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who will forgive him."
Born to survivors of Nazi Europe who arrived destitute in the United States, Samueli started off stocking the shelves of his family's Los Angeles liquor store, launched a chip-making firm in his partner's home and rode the 1990s tech boom to a multibillion-dollar fortune.
Along the way, he gained a reputation as a sober-minded scientist and a soft touch for good causes that included the arts, higher education, a Holocaust memorial library and a marine science institute for children.
Samueli, with a fortune estimated by Forbes magazine at just under $2 billion, can afford the fine, said Barry Slotnick, a white-collar defense attorney in New York. And by pleading guilty, Slotnick added, Samueli avoids an even greater threat to his name: jail time.
"At the end of the day Henry Samueli has a huge legacy and will be remembered not for his guilty plea but for his generosity to needy causes," Slotnick said.
The statement that prosecutors focused on was made May 25, 2007, when Samueli denied under oath a role in making options grants to high-ranking executives.
"I was not involved in the actual granting process," Samueli said.
- Judge rejects plea deal for Broadcom co-founder Henry Samueli Sep 09, 2008
- NHL suspends Henry Samueli indefinitely Jun 25, 2008
- NHL suspends Henry Samueli indefinitely Jun 25, 2008
