If losing the options backdating cases against Broadcom Corp. weren’t bad enough for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Santa Ana (which hopes to appeal), there’s increasing speculation that ex-OC sheriff Mike Carona might yet beat the rap. Carona, who was acquitted on other corruption charges, is free on bail while he appeals his conviction for witness tampering. A three-judge panel from the 9th Circuit recently heard arguments in Pasadena and had pointed questions for Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett Sagel; the OC Register quoted Judge John Noonan as saying payments to Carona from former top aide Don Haidl constituted the “vaguest” bribery case he’s seen. White-collar defense lawyer John Hueston of Irell & Manella, the former federal prosecutor who put away Enron’s Kenneth Lay, says of the Carona appeal: “If I were the prosecution I’d be concerned. If I were the defense I’d be cautiously optimistic.” Sagel declined to comment. Carona is represented by John Cline and Jones Day’s Brian Sun. Cline, whose past clients include Oliver North and Scooter Libby, recently left Jones Day to open his own practice in San Francisco …
Irvine-based real estate investor Tony Thompson has landed none other than Bill Clinton to headline the Wednesday grand opening of Thompson National Properties’ 11-story “green” office building in Las Vegas …
It only takes $5,000 to buy a Chick-fil-A franchise. The catch, chain president Dan T. Cathy said on “Inside OC,” is that the “courtship” can take two or three years: “It’s said that it’s easier to get a job with the CIA than it is with CFA.” Cathy piloted into John Wayne to check out operations in California, where the Georgia-based family business, famous in the South, is expanding (31 locations now, another 20 planned.) Son Andrew runs the regional HQ in Irvine …
Public affairs consultant Mike Stockstill notes that a fourth of the entries (16 of 63) on the 2010 OC 50 business leaders list were born outside the U.S.: “Given the current national debate about immigration it’s an interesting statistic, no?” The quarter-Irish Stockstill adds, “I’m proud to see the Emerald Isle with such a large contingent”—three, most of any foreign country …
The continued bad news for most dailies from the recent Audit Bureau of Circulations numbers includes the L.A. Times falling below the 1 million mark in Sunday circulation, to 941,914. Daily circ is down to 616,606 …
The Angels made history one evening last August when every batter in their lineup was hitting .300 or higher. At times this season there have been no .300 hitters in the lineup …
San Clemente power couple Ken and Meredith Khachigian were guests of Chief Justice John Roberts for oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court. Ken says Roberts “was a young lawyer in the counsel’s office along with Hugh Hewitt during the Reagan administration in the years when I was writing speeches for the president.”
