Decade later, indicted CEO Kobi Alexander agrees to stand trial in US, Report

The founder of Comverse Technology founder,  millionaire Jacob “Kobi” Alexander, who escaped to Namibia a decade ago to avoid options manipulation charges, has agreed to return to the U.S. to face charges, CNBC reports.

The Israeli high-tech company Comverse Technology’s former CEO will appear in court in New York on Wednesday and plead guilty to a one count indictment. Ten years ago he was indicted on 35 charges concerning the value of millions of dollars of Comverse options. That indictment included allegations of securities fraud, money laundering and obstruction, as well as bribery and witness tampering for trying to convince Comverse’s CFO to take the blame for what was a major scandal at the time.

This, one of the last remaining cases of the dot-com era, may therefore now soon be coming to a close.

CNBC reports that Alexander, 64,  had been arrested in Namibia in September 2006 after a global manhunt, but Namibia has no extradition agreement with the US. He is returning to New York after two years of secret negotiations with the US Justice Department, which is understood to have resulted in a plea bargain agreement.

Former Comverse CFO David Kreinberg and general counsel William Sorin both received prison sentences after confessing to their own roles in the scandal. Comverse was bought out in 2013 by a former unit, Verint Systems.

According to Reuters, in connection with a 2009 settlement of a lawsuit by Comverse investors, Alexander agreed to pay $60 million to the software developer and waive more than $72 million of claims against it.

The next year, he reached a $53.6 million civil settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.