Federal prosecutors in San Diego decided Friday to cease and desist its efforts against the former GC at Peregrine, a software company. Last week a jury hung on accounting fraud charges, meaning Eric Deller is now a free man.
The government indicted a regiment of Peregrine executives, accusing them of cooking the company’s books to inflate revenue. Deller’s predecessor in the GC slot, Richard Nelson, moved into other jobs, eventually becoming the company’s interim CEO as the accounting scandal broke. Nelson handed the top legal job to Deller in 2000.
Fourteen executives pled guilty, including Nelson, who has not yet been sentenced. Deller’s lawyers, Melinda Haag and Tom McConville at Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, said in a press release that they were “obviously pleased and thankful” that the jury saw it their way, and “grateful” that the U.S. Attorney’s office has dropped it.
— Dan Levine
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