Former Comverse chief detained in Namibia
Bloomberg reports Jacob 'Kobi'' Alexander, a fugitive charged August 9 with illegal options backdating, was arrested
Alexander, 54, left New York-based Comverse in April and faces federal charges of stock-options manipulation and wire fraud that could send him to jail for five years.
The Comverse case presents the widest-ranging fraud allegations arising from the more than 130 inquiries launched by regulators, prosecutors or companies into stock-options timing.
Federal prosecutors and US Security and Exchange Commission filed a suit against Alexander in a court in Brooklyn New York. The suit claims that Alexander, along with other senior executives at Comverse, "back dated" the granting of stock options in order to rake in higher earnings.
According to accusations, Alexander allegedly sold stock options worth USD 150 million between 1995 and 2001, illegally putting away USD 6.4 million in his own wallet.
Changing the options' date resulted in higher returns than what would have been produced by the original date.
Recently, Alexander has been placed on the homepage of the FBI, where he stars next to Bin Laden, under the "Crime Alert" list. Kobi Alexander was put on this list, despite the fact that the FBI has a list dedicated to white collar crimes.
