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Appeals Court Passes on Samueli Plea Bargain

A federal appeals court has declined to weigh in on a judge’s rejection of Broadcom Corp. cofounder Henry Samueli’s 2008 plea deal in a probe into stock options backdating at the Irvine chipmaker.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said it couldn’t rule on the appeal before Samueli is sentenced on one felony count of lying to investigators in the Broadcom case.

A year ago, U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney in Santa Ana declined to sentence Samueli in the plea deal, which would have spared him five years of prison in favor of probation and fines.

Cormac rejected the plea deal saying it didn’t capture the “seriousness of Dr. Samueli’s alleged misconduct.”

The judge also said that he’d rather wait to address the matter until after the trials of Broadcom cofounder Henry Nicholas next year and former financial chief Bill Ruehle in October.

The appeals court move puts Samueli in legal limbo. No sentencing is scheduled for him.

Without a judge’s acceptance of a plea deal, Samueli faces the prospect of standing trial, which raises the prospect of prison.

Samueli stepped down last year as chairman and chief technology officer at Broadcom after the Securities and Exchange Commission sued him over his involvement in granting backdated stock options.

That lawsuit is on hold pending the criminal trials.

Samueli first told investigators he wasn’t involved in granting options at Broadcom but later was tied to grants by e-mails. Samueli now says he had some involvement but didn’t take part in any wrongdoing.

In 2007, Broadcom restated several years of financial results with $2.2 billion in charges for misdated options, the largest restatement bill of any company probed for the practice.

Samueli also owns the Anaheim Ducks hockey team. He remains involved with the team in an unofficial capacity but is removed from day-to-day management until his case is resolved.

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