Judge rejects plea deal for Broadcom's Samueli

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U.S. District Court Judge Cormac J. Carney wrote that the deal calling for five years probation and $12 million in payments by Samueli would erode the public's trust in the judicial system.

"The court cannot accept a plea agreement that gives the impression that justice is for sale," Carney wrote.

Samueli has pleaded guilty under the plea agreement to lying to investigators for the Securities and Exchange Commission. Broadcom, an Irvine, Calif.-based telecommunications chip maker, was ultimately forced to write down $2.2 billion in profits after the options backdating was uncovered.

Prosecutors and Samueli asked the judge for time to renegotiate their plea deal or to allow Samueli to withdraw from the agreement. Carney set another hearing for Sept. 29.

Samueli, the owner of the NHL's Anaheim Ducks, struck the plea deal with prosecutors this year in a larger criminal probe into stock-option backdating at Broadcom.

Under the agreement, Samueli would have avoided prison time and would not have been required to help prosecutors build their cases against Broadcom's former chief financial officer, William J. Ruehle, or company co-founder Henry T. Nicholas III, who are accused of conspiracy and securities fraud. Nicholas also faces drug-related charges, including that he slipped ecstasy into the drinks of business associates.

Nicholas and Ruehle have pleaded not guilty and are free on bail.

Under federal law, the maximum fine for the offense acknowledged by Samueli is $250,000. His plea deal, however, called for an additional payment of $12 million that prosecutors said was intended to show the seriousness of his offense.

Carney said the payment was unprecedented and the "staggering sum of money" made it appear that Samueli was trying to buy his way out of prison without cooperating with federal investigators.

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