Ex-Comverse CEO Kobi Alexander pleads guilty to fraud, a decade after fleeing US
Israeli-American former chief executive officer (CEO) of Comverse Technology Inc Jacob "Kobi" Alexander pleaded guilty on Wednesday to securities fraud, a decade after he fled to Namibia from the United States to avoid prosecution.
Alexander, the Woodbury, New York-based software developer's founder, entered his plea in federal court in Brooklyn, after ending his fight to avoid extradition to face charges pending since 2006.
The case is one of the last open prosecutions arising from government or internal investigations of stock options backdating at over 200 companies, including Comverse, which was acquired in 2013 by former unit Verint Systems Inc (VRNT.O).
In backdating, a company retroactively grants stock options on dates when stock prices are lower, making them more valuable. Concealing the practice through improper accounting is illegal, and can inflate earnings.
