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Gemstar Ex-Exec to Pay $305,000

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From Bloomberg News

The former general counsel for Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. will pay about $305,000 to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit over claims he helped mislead investors, according to papers filed Thursday in Los Angeles federal court.

The SEC last year accused Jonathan B. Orlick of participating in fraudulent reporting of advertising sales to inflate Gemstar’s revenue by about $248 million from June 1999 through September 2000. Orlick didn’t admit or deny the allegations.

The settlement, signed by U.S. District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer, comes a week after former Gemstar Chief Executive Henry Yuen and Chief Financial Officer Elsie Leung reached a tentative settlement to end the SEC claims just days before a scheduled jury trial. Terms of their proposed deal, which must still be approved by SEC commissioners, weren’t disclosed.

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Sandra Harris, associate regional director for the SEC, said the agency would issue a release within days and declined to comment on Orlick’s case before then. Robert Brownlie, a lawyer for Orlick, declined to comment.

Orlick’s settlement includes disgorgement of $150,000 in profit, interest of $5,510 and a fine of $150,000.

Peter Boylan, Gemstar’s former chief operating officer, in August agreed to pay $600,000 to settle SEC claims. Gemstar, the publisher of TV-Guide magazine, and its auditor, KPMG, each paid $10 million to settle the SEC allegations.

Gemstar, which also sells software that cable television companies use to provide on-screen programming guides, saw its shares rise 4 cents to $5.71 in Nasdaq trading Thursday.

Separately, Gemstar said it was in settlement talks with Scientific-Atlanta Inc. to end a patent dispute. Scientific-Atlanta is the only company Gemstar is still suing for patent infringement after settling suits with companies including EchoStar Communications Corp.

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