Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Broadcom Corp. Senior Vice President Vahid Manian didn’t earn degrees from the University of California that are listed in his company biography, according to the school’s registrar.

Manian, who oversees global manufacturing at Broadcom, attended the University of California at Irvine between September 1979 and August 1983, but wasn’t awarded any degrees, said Mark Fonseca, who is responsible for privacy issues in the school registrar’s office, in an interview. Manian’s biography on Broadcom’s Web site says he has bachelor’s and masters of business administration degrees from the school.

Fonseca said Manian attended classes for four years, but didn’t graduate. He said he isn’t allowed by law to disclose why Manian didn’t receive a degree. Fonseca said the school had no record of Manian studying for an MBA.

Manian also sits on the board of STEC Inc., a Santa Ana, California-based maker of storage drives. A regulatory filing for that company also lists undergraduate and MBA degrees from UC Irvine in Manian’s biography.

Broadcom, based in Irvine, California, makes chips for flat-panel televisions, mobile phones and computer-game consoles. Manian joined the company in 1996 as director of operations, according to Broadcom’s Web site. Before Broadcom, he worked at chipmaker Silicon Systems Inc.

Broadcom spokesman Bob Marsocci said he was looking into the matter. A message left on Manian’s assistant’s voicemail wasn’t returned.

“I am sure that Vahid went to UCI and graduated, he was there with my brother,” Manouch Moshayedi, STEC’S chief executive officer, said in a telephone interview.

Barry Minkow

The discrepancy was uncovered by Barry Minkow, co-founder of the Fraud Discovery Institute, which looks into the backgrounds of executives. Minkow served more than seven years in prison, from 1988 to 1995, after being convicted of fraud while running a company called ZZZZ Best Co. He used CheckMate Investigative Services Inc., a private investigations firm, to research Manian’s background.

Minkow almost always holds a position in securities his organization reports on, according to a disclaimer on his Web site. He said that he doesn’t own any Broadcom shares, but he does own put options on STEC.

Last month, MGM Mirage Chairman and CEO Terry Lanni said he would retire after questions were raised by Minkow about Lanni’s post-graduate education. Lanni said he didn’t have an MBA from the University of Southern California, as his company biography said. He said he did receive an honorary MBA from the school. Las Vegas-based MGM said the disclosure didn’t influence Lanni’s decision to retire.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ian King in San Francisco at ianking@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 2, 2008 14:04 EST