Marvell pays $10M settlement to SEC

By Suzanne Deffree, Managing Editor, News -- 5/9/2008

Marvell Technology Group Ltd has entered into a $10 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in connection with the SEC's previously disclosed investigation into the communications chipmaker's history of stock-option backdating.

Without admitting or denying the allegations in the SEC's complaint, the Santa Clara, Calif-based company agreed to settle the charges by consenting to a permanent injunction against any future violations of various provisions of the federal securities laws.

In a related agreement, Weili Dai, one of the Marvell’s co-founders, also entered into a settlement with the SEC. Also without admitting or denying the allegations in the SEC's complaint, Dai consented to a permanent injunction against any future violations of various provisions of the federal securities laws, agreed not to serve as a director or officer of a public company for a period of five years, and will pay a civil penalty of $500,000.

Marvell is many hard hit tech companies in the government's crackdown on the practice of stock option backdating. In July 2007, the company paid $327.4 million in compensation charges when it filed with the SEC a bevy of delayed or restated financial reports that had been held up by its internal stock-options history probe  completed in May 2007.

ADVERTISEMENT
Top be sure, Marvell is hardly alone in paying an SEC settlement. Fellow communications chipmaker Broadcom Corp in April announced it would pay $12 million to the SEC to end its stock-option backdating saga.


© 2009, Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.