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Jacob "Kobi" Alexander, who founded the company which is based
in New York, returned to the United States in 2016 after
spending a decade in Namibia to avoid prosecution.
In February 2017, he was sentenced to 2-1/2 years in prison for
engaging in securities fraud but earlier this month he was
transferred to Israeli authorities.
A parole board decided to cut his sentence. According to the
Israel Prison Service, one-third of a prison sentence may be
commuted for good behavior. He pleaded guilty to securities
fraud related to backdating stock options in August 2016.
Prosecutors charged that from 1998 to 2001 Alexander
participated in a scheme to use hindsight to select the
effective dates for granting options for employees, resulting in
misleading statements to investors.
Alexander fled to Namibia with his family in 2006 amid the
investigation. Charges were announced that August against him,
William Sorin, Comverse’s general counsel, and David Kreinberg,
its finance chief.
Sorin pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one year in prison.
Kreinberg was spared prison after pleading guilty.
Alexander agreed in 2009 to pay $60 million to Comverse in
connection with shareholder litigation, and to waive over $72
million in claims he had against Comverse, which was acquired by
former unit Verint Systems in 2013.
He settled related civil government lawsuits in 2010, resulting
in a $6 million penalty by the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission.
(Reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg)
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