Civil charges against Ducks owner won’t affect team, spokesman says

Civil charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission against Ducks owner Henry Samueli and three other men for allegedly backdating stock options at Broadcom Corp. will not affect the operations of the hockey team, Samueli’s top hockey executive said today.

Michael Schulman, chief executive officer of the Ducks and chairman of the board of Anaheim Arena Management LLC, said the charges in the 39-page complaint filed today in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California would not have any effect on the Ducks. The team’s season ended last month with a first-round loss to the Dallas Stars.

“Not at all,” Schulman said. “In terms of the Ducks, nothing is changed there, or in terms of our operation … this does not impact the Ducks.”

Samueli’s attorney, Gordon A. Greenberg, released a statement saying that the SEC failed to mention an investigation commissioned by Broadcom’s outside board members that essentially exonerated Samueli. “We look forward to representing Dr. Samueli in the proper forum, the courtroom,” Greenberg said.

Samueli is the co-founder of Broadcom as well as its board chairman and chief technical officer.

Also charged today were Henry Nicholas, Broadcom’s former CEO; former chief financial officer William J. Ruehle; and general counsel David Dull. They were alleged to have perpetrated a scheme from 1998 to 2003 to fraudulently back-date stock option grants, failing to record billions of dollars of compensation expenses and falsifying documents to further the fraud.

Samueli and his wife, Susan, who live in Corona del Mar, bought the Ducks from the Walt Disney Co. in June 2005, 18 months after they purchased the management contract for the Honda Center.

Under Samueli’s ownership the Ducks won the Stanley Cup in 2007 and this season, for the first time, announced sell-outs for every home game.

The Samuelis are considered generous owners and well-regarded by players. They went to the aid of Ducks goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere after his son was born with a malformed eye in April 2007, directing Giguere toward top-notch medical treatment.

In addition, the Samuelis designed the lavish Stanley Cup rings awarded to players, staff and others last spring. The deluxe model, given to players, was made of 14-karat white gold and adorned with 110 diamonds. The Cup was depicted from top to bottom and adorned with 16 diamonds and the team logo was depicted in 14-karat yellow gold.

Messages left for Bill Daly, the NHL’s chief legal officer and deputy commissioner, were not immediately returned.

 helene.elliott@latimes.com