Broadcom

Broadcom Corp. announced Monday that it agreed to purchase NetLogic Microsystems Inc. for about $3.7 billion. Irvine-based Broadcom designs and supplies semiconductors to telecommunications and consumer electronics companies with its chips ending up in a list of popular gadgets, such as Nintendo's Wii, Apple's iPhones and iPads and an array of phones running Google's Android operating system. The company has purchased many smaller firms over the years, as The Times' David Sarno noted in a February profile of Broadcom . At $50 a share, NetLogic's shareholders would be getting a nice payout in the takeover deal, which has been approved by the two company's boards of directors but still needs U.S. and international regulatory approvals.

A Newport Coast man faces up to more than 340 years in prison federal prosecutors said Thursday after two unsealed federal indictments allege he hid billions of dollars’ worth of expenses from Securities and Exchange Commission officials, and stored and distributed ecstasy, cocaine and methamphetamines to escorts. Henry Nicholas III, 48, a co-founder and former chief executive of the Irvine-based Broadcom company, surrendered to FBI agents Thursday, according to federal prosecutors.

Local billionaire and Broadcom Corp. founder Henry Samueli next year will be at the mercy of a federal judge, who’ll sentence him to prison for pleading guilty to lying to government investigators about his role in a fraud. On Thursday, Samueli lost an appeal in the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He was appealing Judge Cormac Carney’s decision to not accept a plea bargain that he and prosecutors had agreed to last year. Samueli pleaded guilty to lying to investigators about his company’s alleged stock-option back-dating scheme for Broadcom employees.

A federal judge in Santa Ana has dismissed Newport billionaire Henry Samueli’s guilty plea after being convinced that the Broadcom co-founder did not deliberately lie to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Samueli, who owns the Anaheim Ducks, did not knowingly make false statements to the SEC when he and others were investigated for allegedly backdating stock options in the company, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney announced in court Wednesday. Carney rejected Samueli’s earlier plea deal, which would have spared him jail time.

The U.S. attorney’s office is appealing a federal judge’s decision last month to throw out the criminal cases against two Broadcom executives, one of whom is Newport Beach resident and billionaire Henry Samueli. In motions filed Thursday, federal prosecutors are seeking to overturn U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney’s surprise decision in early December to throw out the government’s case against Broadcom co-founder Samueli and Henry T. Nicholas III. Carney announced his decision at the end of Samueli’s testimony during another executive’s trial.

Not only was Newport Beach billionaire and Broadcom co-founder Henry Samueli’s guilty plea with the government thrown out, but so was the entire case against him, and others charged in the case may have a similar fate, transcripts released from last week’s court hearing show. Samueli had pleaded guilty to lying to the Securities and Exchange Commission about his role in the company backdating stock options for its employees. While he awaited sentencing in the case, he was given limited immunity by U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney and testified in Broadcom Chief Financial Officer William Ruehle’s trial.

A federal judge Tuesday threw out the government’s case against Newport Beach resident and former Broadcom executive William Ruehle, scolding the prosecutors for their “shameful” conduct that tainted justice. U.S. District Court Judge Cormac J. Carney dismissed the Securities and Exchange Commission’s case against Ruehle, 67, the company’s former chief financial officer, and Henry T. Nicholas III, Broadcom’s former chief executive. Both were accused of lying to the government about backdating stock options for employees.

Broadcom Corp. announced Monday that it agreed to purchase NetLogic Microsystems Inc. for about $3.7 billion. Irvine-based Broadcom designs and supplies semiconductors to telecommunications and consumer electronics companies with its chips ending up in a list of popular gadgets, such as Nintendo's Wii, Apple's iPhones and iPads and an array of phones running Google's Android operating system. The company has purchased many smaller firms over the years, as The Times' David Sarno noted in a February profile of Broadcom . At $50 a share, NetLogic's shareholders would be getting a nice payout in the takeover deal, which has been approved by the two company's boards of directors but still needs U.S. and international regulatory approvals.

Newport Beach's wealthiest resident dropped five notches in the annual ranking of America's richest individuals, according to the 2010 Forbes Rich List. In a ranking of 400, real estate investor Donald Bren came in at 21, with a calculated net worth of $12 billion. This is a slight dip for Bren, who ranked No. 16 in 2009 . According to forbes.com , Bren built his first house on a $10,000 loan in 1958. By 1996, he was the principle owner of the Irvine Co. and in the process of developing much of Orange County.

The U.S. attorney’s office is appealing a federal judge’s decision last month to throw out the criminal cases against two Broadcom executives, one of whom is Newport Beach resident and billionaire Henry Samueli. In motions filed Thursday, federal prosecutors are seeking to overturn U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney’s surprise decision in early December to throw out the government’s case against Broadcom co-founder Samueli and Henry T. Nicholas III. Carney announced his decision at the end of Samueli’s testimony during another executive’s trial.

The loose ends of a backdating stock-option incident that entangled local billionaire Henry Samueli and Broadcom Chief Financial Officer William Ruehle are slowly being tied up through the company’s settlement of a class-action lawsuit. Broadcom officials announced Tuesday that they have agreed in principle to settling a lawsuit by stockholders against the company and some of its executives for $160.5 million. The class was made up of people and organizations who bought stock in Irvine-based Broadcom between July 21, 2005, and July 13, 2006.

The loose ends of a backdating stock-option occurrence that entangled local billionaire Henry Samueli and Broadcom Chief Financial Officer William Ruehle are slowing being tied up through the company’s announcement on Tuesday of the settlement of a class-action lawsuit. Broadcom officials announced that they have agreed in principle to settling a lawsuit by stockholders against the company and some of its executives for $160.5 million. The class was made up of people and organizations who bought stock in Irvine-based Broadcom between July 21, 2005 and July 13, 2006.

Not only was Newport Beach billionaire and Broadcom co-founder Henry Samueli’s guilty plea with the government thrown out, but so was the entire case against him, and others charged in the case may have a similar fate, transcripts released from last week’s court hearing show. Samueli had pleaded guilty to lying to the Securities and Exchange Commission about his role in the company backdating stock options for its employees. While he awaited sentencing in the case, he was given limited immunity by U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney and testified in Broadcom Chief Financial Officer William Ruehle’s trial.

A federal judge Tuesday threw out the government’s case against Newport Beach resident and former Broadcom executive William Ruehle, scolding the prosecutors for their “shameful” conduct that tainted justice. U.S. District Court Judge Cormac J. Carney dismissed the Securities and Exchange Commission’s case against Ruehle, 67, the company’s former chief financial officer, and Henry T. Nicholas III, Broadcom’s former chief executive. Both were accused of lying to the government about backdating stock options for employees.