An internal investigation into stock-option backdating at Broadcom Corp. by Kaye Scholer held three executives responsible and gave a pass to general counsel David Dull and co-founder Henry Samueli. But the SEC didn’t see it that way.
On Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged (.pdf) Dull and Samueli — along with former CEO Henry Nicholas and former CFO William Ruehle — for an alleged backdating scheme between 1998 and 2003 that led to a $2.2 billion restatement last year. The SEC claims the four officers retroactively dated stock options to low points of Broadcom’s stock, increasing their value to the recipients, without properly accounting for the moves. The clash between the company’s and the SEC’s investigations stands out in the crowd of backdating cases where the two normally match.
