Kobi Alexander refused bail in New York court

Kobi Alexander
Kobi Alexander

Judge Nicholas Garaufis denied bail to the former Comverse CEO who pled guilty to securities fraud, 10 years after fleeing to Namibia.

Kobi Alexander, the founder and former CEO of Israeli high-tech company Comverse Technology, has pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud in a US Federal Court in Brooklyn. Judge Nicholas Garaufis denied bail to the Israeli who fled to Namibia 10 years ago, shortly before being indicted for allegedly manipulating the value of millions of dollars of Comverse options.

In dismissing Alexander's request for bail, Judge Garaufis said, " Spare me, I wasn’t born yesterday."

Defense attorney Benjamin Brafman told CNBC, "We are bitterly disappointed by the judge's ruling, but he's the judge and I'm not."

Alexander told the court, “The use of hindsight to select the date on which stock options were granted was inconsistent with representations in the company’s 10-Ks. I also knew it was illegal to make false statements in these documents and I deeply regret having participated in this conduct.”

Alexander has returned to the US after two years of secret negotiations between the US Justice Department, the Namibian government and Alexander's lawyers, which ended in a plea bargain agreement. Namibia has no extradition agreement with the US.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 25, 2016

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2016

Kobi Alexander
Kobi Alexander
Twitter Facebook Linkedin RSS Newsletters âìåáñ Israel Business Conference 2018