TWO TOP cheeses at chipmaker, Broadcom, have stepped aside pending an investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The pair include co-founder and CTO, Dr Henry Samueli and its top lawyer, David Dull. Actually the SEC is investigating the CEO, Henry Nicholas and former CFO, William Ruehle, too.

The company's board has picked John E Major (obviously not the UK's former PM) as head gaffe in the meantime. Major complained, "It is important to note that the government's charges pertain to events that occurred half a decade to nearly a decade ago."

Only last month [April], Broadcom entered into a settlement relating to this issue. Namely, the SEC's investigation of Broadcom's historical stock option granting practices. Without admitting the allegations, Broadcom had agreed to pay a penalty of $12 million.

That concluded the SEC's investigation in respect to Broadcom itself, but the SEC appears now to have gone after the participants individually. The amount of litigation that Broadcom gets involved in must present the company with an enormous bill. µ