"Mr. Ruehle, You Are a Free Man": Judge Carney's Dramatic Dismissal of the Broadcom Backdating Criminal Case

"Mr. Ruehle, You Are a Free Man": Judge Carney's Dramatic Dismissal of the Broadcom Backdating Criminal Case - 12/17/2009 , Class Action News, Class Action, Securities News, shareholder class action, claim, litigation, securities action, common stock'>

Home

Index of Filings

News and Press Releases

Filings

Decisions

Settlements

Litigation Activity Indices

Top Ten List

Annual/Quarterly Updates

Clearinghouse Research

Articles & Papers

Search

Related Sites

About Us

Local Rules

Sponsors

Register

_______________
Copyright © 2001
Stanford Law School

2009 News and Press Releases

SEARCH

News	News 2009
HEADLINES \| SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS \| COURT FILINGS LINKS TO OTHER NEWS \| NEWS ARCHIVE	HEADLINES ARCHIVED SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS ARCHIVED

HEADLINE NEWS:

"Mr. Ruehle, You Are a Free Man": Judge Carney's Dramatic Dismissal of the Broadcom Backdating Criminal Case
Kevin LaCroix

The D & O Diary. December 17, 2009
_________________________________________________________________________

EXCERPT: There has been widespread news coverage of the dramatic December 15, 2009 decision of Central District of California Judge Cormac Carney to throw out the options backdating related criminal charges against Broadcom co-founder Henry T. Nicholas III and CFO William Ruehle, based on prosecutorial misconduct. But even though many of press accounts have reproduced some of Judge Carney's harshest words – particularly his statement that the government’s treatment of a third defendant, Henry Sameuli, was "shameful and contrary to American values of decency" – the excerpts do not come close to capturing the depth and breadth of the Judge’s condemnation of the prosecutor’s conduct. The transcript of the December 15 hearing at which Judge Carney delivered his ruling can be found here. I strongly recommend taking a few minutes and reading the entire transcript (it is relatively short), because only a complete reading truly conveys the extent of Judge Carney’s censure. His reproach of the prosecutors is comprehensive, extensive and scathing. Judge Carney dropped a bomb on the prosecution. Not by accident, as if he got a little angry and then got carried away. No. Judge Carney clearly and consciously intended to summon every molecule of the power of his position and marshalled every tool in the arsenal of language. Judge Carney's decision is a case-hardened, bunker-buster, heat -seeking bomb -- that hit the bulls-eye. Among other things, he cites the prosecutors for "intimidating and improperly influencing" witnesses, which "compromised the truth process and compromised the integrity of the trial"; for making improper leaks to the media; for improperly pressuring Broadcom to terminate Samueli; for obtaining an "inflammatory indictment" of Samueli; and crafting "an unconscionable plea agreement" with Samueli. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Stolper, the lead prosecutor in the case, received particularly sharp criticism.

Back to News page | Back to Archived News 2009 page | Back to Top

�