Litigation Release No. 18095 / April 18, 2003
Securities and Exhange Commission v. Henry C. Yuen and Elsie Ma Leung, Case No. CV 03-1754 DT(SHSx) (C.D. Cal.)
FORMER GEMSTAR-TV GUIDE INTERNATIONAL CEO NAMED IN CIVIL CONTEMPT PROCEEDING
Today the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil contempt application in United States District Court in Los Angeles against Henry C. Yuen, the former CEO of Gemstar-TV Guide International. The SEC requests that the Court hold Yuen in contempt for violating a court order compelling his testimony in the SEC's investigation concerning Gemstar. The SEC alleged that Yuen failed to testify on April 16 and 17, 2003, as required by the Court's March 13, 2003 Stipulated Order. The SEC is requesting that the Court hold Yuen in contempt, and order him incarcerated and impose a daily civil fine of $50,000, doubling daily, until Yuen purges his contempt by appearing for testimony.
On March 12, 2003, the SEC filed a subpoena enforcement action to compel the testimony of Yuen and Elsie Ma Leung, the former CFO of Gemstar. Yuen and Leung agreed to the entry of a court order enforcing the subpoenas and setting designated dates for their testimony. The Court entered an order requiring Yuen to testify before the SEC on April 1, 16-18 and 21-22. Yuen appeared and provided testimony on April 1, 2003, but failed to provide testimony on April 16 or April 17. The SEC seeks Yuen's testimony in connection with an ongoing investigation to determine whether there have been violations of the antifraud and other provisions of the federal securities laws in relation to Gemstar's public reporting of its financial results for the years 1999 through 2002.