Broadcom Corp. cofounder and former technology chief Henry Samueli apologized in a statement filed in federal court last week for lying to the Securities and Exchange Commission during its probe of stock options backdating at the Irvine-based maker of communication chips.
In June he agreed to plead guilty to one felony count of lying to federal investigators about his role in granting stock options.
The apology comes before a Santa Ana judge is set to accept, amend or reject the plea agreement.
Under the terms of the initial plea deal, he’s set to pay $12.2 million in fines and avoid prison. He’s likely to see three to five years of probation.
The statement was the first public comment Samueli has made on the case that wasn’t through his lawyers.
“My statement before the SEC was out of character for me,” Samueli said. “I have tried to live my life in a way that showed that hard work and honesty were their own reward.”
Samueli went on to describe his modest upbringing by parents who were Holocaust survivors and his years of working as an engineering professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking to bar Samueli from serving as an officer of a public company.
He resigned from his longtime post as chairman and chief technology officer earlier this year.
The plea deal, if approved by a judge, would give him room to serve as a technical consultant, according to Broadcom.
“I also care deeply about the future of Broadcom and to lose my position as chairman of the company I cofounded was extremely difficult for me,” Samueli said.
Judge Cormac Carney is set to consider the plea agreement on Sept. 8.
,Sarah Tolkoff
