Broadcom Corp. cofounder Henry Samueli has been cleared by the National Hockey League to resume involvement with the Anaheim Ducks, which he owns with wife Susan.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said Thursday Samueli has been “reinstated” as owner of the hockey team.

Samueli retained ownership of the team but was suspended from involvement in June 2008 amid legal issues surrounding backdated stock options at Irvine chipmaker Broadcom.

He’s pled guilty to one count of lying to investigators looking into options at Broadcom and awaits sentencing.

A trial of former Broadcom chief financial officer Bill Ruehle is under way in Santa Ana. Cofounder and ex-chief executive Henry “Nick” Nicholas faces trial next year.

In early 2007, Broadcom restated several years of financial results to reflect $2.2 billion in charges for misdated stock options, the highest restatement bill of any company involved in backdated options.

That Samueli was reinstated by the NHL isn't surprising, though the timing is.

Many expected him to be reinstated once he was sentenced in a plea deal with prosecutors.

But Samueli’s legal fate remains unclear.

In September, a federal appeals court declined to weigh in on a judge’s rejection of Samueli’s 2008 plea deal.

The judge questioned whether the deal’s punishment—fines and probation—was severe enough. He opted to wait to address the matter until after the Ruehle and Nicholas trials.

The NHL’s suspension of Samueli was seen as necessary after the more severe case of Adelphia Communications Corp.'s John Rigas, who was convicted of fraud charges in 2005 and stripped of his ownership of the Buffalo Sabres.

The Samuelis bought the Ducks from Walt Disney Co. four years ago for an estimated $70 million.