Federal prosecutors have filed for more time as they consider appealing the dismissal of stock options backdating cases against Broadcom Corp. cofounders Henry Nicholas and Henry Samueli, according to a court filing.
The government is seeking a 31-day extension, pushing its deadline out until June.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office had faced a May 10 deadline to file an opening brief in its bid to appeal the December dismissal of illegal stock options backdating charges against Samueli and Nicholas.
In January, prosecutors filed a notice of appeal indicating they planned to try to reverse the dismissals.
A decision to move forward has rested with the Office of the Solicitor General in Washington, D.C.
The extension is meant to give the solicitor general more time to review the cases, which consists of some 5,000 pages of transcripts, the filing showed.
“To reach an informed decision as to whether to appeal requires review of a substantial body of material,” the government said in its motion.
The opening brief, now expected on June 10, is set to be filed in the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco, if the government pursues an appeal.
In a set of stunning moves in December, U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney in Santa Ana threw out charges against Samueli and Nicholas as well as former Broadcom financial chief Bill Ruehle.
The three were charged after an investigation of backdated stock options at Broadcom.
—Sarah Tolkoff
