Intel Corporation has been taking a bit of heat from the government lately, both domestic and abroad.  In May, the European Union fined Intel $1.45 billion over anti-competitive practices.  And two months ago Intel received a letter last week that PCs in Cuba contain Celeron processors even though there is an embargo.

Dealing with the European Union
Interestingly ombudsman P. Nikiforos Diamandouros criticized the EU for not recording the case file in the decision against the chipmaker.  And a Dell executive cited AMD’s performance being poor as the reason why the PC manufacturing company chose Intel as their supplier.  This makes the verdict of the decision to penalize Intel seem a bit off.  More details to follow as discussions arise on this topic.

Dealing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
The SEC sent Intel a confidential letter on June 4th stating the following:
“We are aware of a May 2008 news report that PCs in Cuba contain your Celeron processors. Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria are identified by the State Department as state sponsors of terrorism, and are subject to U.S. economic sanctions and export controls.”

In addition, the SEC wrote “We note that your Form 10-K does not include disclosure regarding contacts with Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria. Please describe to us the nature and extent of any past, current, and anticipated contacts with the referenced countries, whether through distributors, resellers, licensees, or other direct or indirect arrangements.”

The Cubans have PCs that have Intel Celeron processors with 80GB hard drives and 512MB of RAM.  They also have the Windows XP operating system.  Intel responded with the following letter:

“Intel has no business contacts with the Subject Countries, either directly or indirectly through tacit agreement with its customers. Intel does not provide products or technology to the Subject Countries….”

To be honest, perhaps it is a good thing that all the Celerons are ending up in Cuba.  They should even take computers marked with “dual-core” processors.  And let’s give the Americans more Core 2 Duos!

Google has reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission that they have invested $2.6 million in the genetic testing startup 23andMe as part of a Series B round of funding.  23andMe was co-founded by Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s wife Anne Wojcicki.

It is uncertain whether the deal was made directly through Google or through their Ventures subsidiary.  The $2.6 million round of fund was part of a $12.6 million Series B round.  The other $10 million came from Sergey Brin’s personal wealth of $12 billion.  This brings 23andMe’s total funding to about $21.6 million.  Other investors include Genentech, New Enterprise Associates, and Mohr Davidow Ventures.

Google owns a minority interest in 23andMe and also plans to lease space to the genetics company.  Google wrote in the filing that they took measures to ensure the decision before investing to make the agreement was free of conflict of interest.  Sergey Brin was not part of the investment discussions according to Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

[via BusinessInsider/NYT]

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that they have reached a settlement with Research In Motion Limited (USA) (NASDAQ:RIMM).  Four of RIM’s top executives have agreed to pay $2.27 million in penalties, disgorgement, and interest.  This settlement is taking place less than 2 weeks after the RIMM executives settled charges similarly with the Canadian government.  The fines in Canada amounted to about $30 million.  This is the largest penalty levied on individuals by the Ontario Securities Commission.

The four executives illegally gave undisclosed in-the-money stock options to RIM employees backdating millions between 1998 and 2006.  The four executives include RIM co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazardis, VP of Finance Angelo Loberto, and CFO Dennis Kavelman.

“As alleged in our complaint, RIM and its highest-level executives engaged in widespread backdating of options, which provided them and other employees with millions of dollars in undisclosed compensation,” stated SEC enforcement director Linda Chatman Thomsen.

The executives essentially made false claims about how the company prices and accounts for options.

[via Bloomberg]

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission are exploring the 10-K reports for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) to ensure that investors weren’t misled according to a source for Bloomberg.  The SEC review does not mean that there is evidence of any wrongdoing.

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