NEW YORK (AP) -- The founder of a California-based semiconductor company and its ex-chief financial officer won't go to prison after pleading guilty in New York to conspiring to obstruct an anticipated federal investigation.
Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. founder Louis Tomasetta (tahm-ah-SEHT'-uh) and Eugene Hovanec (HOH'-vah-nehk) were sentenced Friday in Manhattan federal court to three months of probation. They admitted in August that they conspired to destroy or falsify records related to Vitesse's April and October 2001 stock option grants.
Prosecutors say the men tried to destroy the records because they believed an investigation would occur.
The 64-year-old Tomasetta lives in Ojai (OH'-hy), Calif. The 61-year-old Hovanec lives in Westlake Village, Calif.
Vitesse was founded in 1984 to develop integrated circuits for high-performance electronics.
