Broadcom Corp. cofounder Henry Samueli is set to plead guilty Monday afternoon to one criminal charge related to the probe of stock options backdating at the chipmaker.
Samueli will plead guilty to one count of lying to federal investigators about his role in the backdating of stock options at Broadcom.
He’s set to appear before Judge Cormac Carney at 2:30 p.m. in Santa Ana.
Samueli is set to pay $12 million for making a false statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission plus a $250,000 fine, according to the plea agreement.
He will be placed on five years probation but can petition to end it after three years.
The lying occurred in a deposition Samueli gave on May 25, 2007, where he was asked if he was involved in granting options to Broadcom executives, according to reports.
Samueli said he was aware of the grants, but not directly involved in the process.
He and former chief executive Henry Nicholas, who is set to stand trial for financial fraud and drug charges next month, made up the two-man compensation committee that oversaw the granting of executive pay and signed off on the options.
In an indictment handed down to Nicholas June 5, Samueli is identified as an “unindicted co-conspirator.” He was called out in the indictment as having suggested in an e-mail a more favorable date for granting a particular employee’s options.
Samueli stepped down last month as chairman and took a leave of absence as its chief technology officer after the SEC filed a civil suit against him and others.
In April, Broadcom paid $12 million to the SEC to settle charges in a civil suit related to options.
Samueli’s move marks the second executive to enter a guilty plea for options backdating at Broadcom.
In late 2007, prosecutors struck a plea deal with former Broadcom human resources executive Nancy Tullos over options charges.
Tullos pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of justice in the stock options probe. Tullos, who left the company in 2003, agreed to cooperate in the case.
In March, Tullos agreed to pay more than $1.3 million to settle civil charges with the SEC.
Nicholas and former chief financial officer Bill Ruehle, who was named as a co-defendant on the fraud indictment, pleaded not guilty a week ago.
Samueli isn’t set to testify against Nicholas and Ruehle, according to prosecutors.
