CEO, philanthropist Samueli faces legal troubles
By Julia Erlandson
July 13, 2008 9:00 p.m.
Henry Samueli, CEO of Broadcom Corporation and the philanthropist for whom UCLA’s engineering school is named, pleaded guilty last week to lying to federal investigators.
Samueli accepted a plea deal that will allow him to avoid jail time, though he will likely pay over $12 million in fines.
The Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating Samueli, an alumnus of UCLA engineering and a UCLA professor of electrical engineering, in connection with stock option backdating at Broadcom. Stock options are essentially the ability to buy stocks at a fixed price in the future. If a company’s stock price increases, people holding stock options can profit. Backdating involves changing the dates on which options were issued to increase that profit.
Samueli admitted last week that he lied to SEC investigators when he told them he was not involved in Broadcom’s option-granting process.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Aug. 18, and under the terms of the plea agreement Samueli will likely receive five years probation, a $250,000 fine and a mandate to pay the U.S. Treasury $12 million.
Samueli, a prominent Southern California philanthropist, has donated regularly to UCLA and to UC Irvine, whose own engineering school also bears his name. Samueli also owns the Anaheim Ducks, an NHL team. The Ducks recently placed Samueli on indefinite suspension.
Samueli and Henry Nicholas, also a UCLA engineering alum, founded Broadcom in 1991, according to the Los Angeles Times. Nicholas was also indicted in the backdating investigation.
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block expressed sympathy for Samueli in a statement released last week.
“Henry Samueli has been a friend of UCLA and a valued member of the Bruin family for many years, generously offering his time and philanthropy to multiple endeavors that have enriched the university community,” Block said. “I am saddened by the legal issues he now faces and hope they are resolved quickly and fairly.”
With reports from Bruin wire services.
