In what is considered a very unusual case, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney set aside the guilty plea of Broadcom Co-Founder Henry Samueli and then dismissed the entire information against him.

Judge Carney heard Samueli testify in the trial of William Ruehle, who was Broadcom's CFO. Broadcom, an Irvine based company, is in the business of manufacturing of semi-conductors. During the conclusion of his testimony, Carney, set aside the plea and dismissed the case against him without giving the U.S. Attorney's Office a chance to protest.

The dismissal comes on the heels of prosecutorial misconduct conducted by U.S. Attorney Andrew Stolper. Judge Carney found prosecutorial misconduct when Stolper told another Broadcom executive, David Dull, that if his testimony in the William Ruehle case was similar to his earlier deposition, Dull could face perjury charges.

Judge Carney is also the judge who previously would not accept a plea agreement between Samueli and Federal Prosecutors. In that agreement, Samueli was to plead guilty, serve 5 years of probation and pay $12 Million to the federal Treasury. Carney felt that by accepting this agreement, it would leave the impression that “justice was for sale.”