Federal attorneys appealing decision

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. Carney said that, through two days of testimony, he became convinced that Samueli’s conviction was the result of misconduct by prosecutors and a twisting of the facts.

Samueli pleaded guilty as part of a deal with prosecutors and was awaiting sentencing when his case was dismissed.

Samueli was testifying in former Broadcom Chief Financial Officer William Ruehle’s trial when it was thrown out.

Ruehle, also from Newport Beach, Samueli and Nicholas were all accused of lying to the government about backdating stock options for company employees.

The Securities and Exchange Commission claimed they deliberately deceived investors about the backdating to inflate profits. Carney also threw out the case against Ruehle, but the U.S. attorney’s office is not appealing that decision.

Nicholas also faced federal drug charges, but prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss that case Thursday.