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LAWSUITS NEWS & LEGAL INFORMATION

Options Backdating

Orange County, CA: (Mar-04-08) The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought charges against Nancy Tullos, Broadcom's former head of human resources, alleging that she personally benefited by changing the value of employee stock options. Records show that the lawsuit is the first civil case settled over stock option backdating involving the Irvine, CA chipmaker.

At the heart of the lawsuit was Broadcom's restating of the company's financial results by $2.22 billion in January 2007, in the largest case of backdating in US history, according to the SEC. Broadcom has reported that its Chairman and Chief Technical Officer Henry Samueli, and general counsel David Dull, have received notices of SEC investigations relating to the backdating.

The charges against Tullos implicated that Broadcom executives are seeking to maximize the value of stock options over several years to help recruit and compensate employees. Stock options offer the opportunity to buy a stock, at a future date, at a fixed price. They were a popular form of compensation in the late '90s at Broadcom and other fast-growing high-tech companies that had limited cash but fast-rising stock prices.

In a settlement reached, SEC sources stated that Tullos had agreed to a $1.3 million payout to resolve the allegations against her. [ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER: FORMER BROADCOM EXECUTIVE SETTLES LAWSUIT]


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Published on Mar-5-08


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