Several former executives of Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. agreed to disgorge millions of dollars in illegal profits in a civil settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the agency said Friday. Louis Tomasetta, the former chief executive of the Camarillo semiconductor company, will disgorge more than $2.1 million and pay a $100,000 civil penalty, while Eugene Hovanec, the former chief financial officer, will disgorge $781,280 and pay a $50,000 civil penalty. Tomasetta, 64, of Ojai, and Hovanec, 61, of Westlake Village, also were barred from serving as officers or directors of any public company for 10 years. Tomasetta and Hovanec were fired in May 2006 during an investigation into the inappropriate awarding of stock options. They also entered guilty pleas in August to a criminal charge of conspiring to alter, falsify or destroy documents in the course of a federal investigation. The pair face up to five years in prison when sentenced in November. Prosecutors said Tomasetta and Hovanec, and Yatin Mody, 50, of Westlake Village, the chief financial officer prior to Hovanec, conspired in 2006 to create fake minutes of meetings from 2001 of the Vitesse board of director’s compensation committee related to authorizing option grants. The SEC said Mody would disgorge $162,320 in connection with the scheme and other illegal activity at the firm, while Nicole R. Kaplan, a former director of finance, would disgorge $47,495. Neither Mody nor Kaplan was assessed a civil penalty due to their cooperation with the SEC, but Mody was permanently barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company. All the settlements must be approved by a federal court judge. Vitesse was never charged criminally as a corporation, but paid a $3 million civil penalty to the Securities and Exchange Commission in December 2010. Shares of Vitesse gained 4 cents, or more than 1 percent, to close Friday at $3.02 on the Nasdaq.
