Jacob "Kobi" Alexander (; born May 4, 1952) is an Israeli-American businessman. He is the founder and the former

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

-based

Comverse Technology Comverse Technology, Inc. was a technology company located in Woodbury, New York in the United States, that developed and marketed telecommunications software. The company focused on providing value-added services to telecommunication service p ...

. In 2006, he was charged with multiple counts of

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

and related offenses pertaining to irregularities in trading of Comverse stock; he subsequently fled to

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

, a nation which has no

extradition treaty In an extradition, one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, into the custody of the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdic ...

with the US.

Education

Alexander earned degrees in economics from

Hebrew University in Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. It is the second-ol ...

and finance from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

Career

A major breakthrough came when Alexander convinced Swiss telecom giant Ascom to invest US$6 million in the company in the mid 1980s, providing Comverse the capital it needed at that time. In 1986, Alexander was able to take Comverse public on the

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

. Alexander also formerly owned 25% of the Israeli basketball team

Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball Club (), known for sponsorship reasons as Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv (), is a professional basketball club based in Tel Aviv, Israel. The team plays in the Ligat HaAl (the top tier of Israeli basketball), and inte ...

Awards and accomplishments

In addition to Comverse Technology, Alexander spun off and took public several other companies including Ulticom (NASDAQ: ULCM) and

Verint Systems Verint Systems Inc. is a Melville, New York–based technology company that sells products and services for customer experience (CX) automation. The company offers an open platform, applications, and bots that incorporate artificial intelligence ...

(NASDAQ: VRNT). Companies under his leadership were listed in Barron's 500, Business Week: "Hot Growth Companies", "Business Week 50", Business Week: "The Information Technology 100", Financial World: "America's Best 100 Growth Companies", Fortune: "100 Fastest Growing Companies"', International Business: "100 Fastest-Growing International Companies", Wall Street Journal: "10-Year Best Performers", and Wall Street Journal "Honor Roll", among others. In 2006, Comverse was named one of Institutional Investor: America's Most Shareholder-Friendly Companies". "As CEO of Comverse, Alexander was sought out by the likes of former Chinese President

Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as Chairman of the Central Mil ...

, who slipped away from official meetings in 2000 and steered his motorcade through a pot-holed section of Tel Aviv to meet with him." He served as the

chairman of the board The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a Board of directors, board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by ...

and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of CTI from 1987 to May 1, 2006, when he resigned during an investigation being conducted by a Special Committee of CTI's

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

into the timing of CTI's

stock option In finance, an option is a contract which conveys to its owner, the ''holder'', the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell a specific quantity of an underlying asset or instrument at a specified strike price on or before a specified ...

grants. He was Chairman of several CTI subsidiaries, including

and Ulticom.

Criminal charges

On July 31, 2006, Alexander was charged by

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

authorities with multiple charges of

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

to commit various types of

(including

securities fraud Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a deceptive practice in the stock or commodities markets that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information.wire fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical (e.g., the U.S. Postal Service) or electronic (e.g., a phone, a telegram, a fax, or the Internet) mail system to defraud another, and are U.S. fede ...

and

mail fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical (e.g., the U.S. Postal Service) or electronic (e.g., a phone, a telegram, a fax, or the Internet) mail system to defraud another, and are U.S. fede ...

), as well as with related offences, all relating to the timing of Comverse's stock option grants.: After Alexander left the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

on June 21, 2006, on a pre-planned annual vacation in Israel, his lawyers arranged with American authorities that he would return to face

indictment An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offense is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use that concept often use that of an ind ...

on July 30, 2006; however, he instead traveled to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. On July 31 a warrant was issued for his arrest. On August 9, 2006, the

United States Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its ...

filed a civil injunctive action in the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (in case citations, E.D.N.Y.) is the United States district court, federal district court whose territorial jurisdiction spans five List of counties in New York, counties in ...

against Alexander, along with alleged co-conspirators William F. Sorin, Comverse's former Senior General Counsel, and David Kreinberg, Comverse's former

chief financial officer A chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization who is assigned the primary responsibility for making decisions for the company for projects and its finances; i.a.: financial planning, management of financial risks, ...

. The complaint makes nine claims of violation of the

Securities Act The Securities Act of 1933, also known as the 1933 Act, the Securities Act, the Truth in Securities Act, the Federal Securities Act, and the '33 Act, was enacted by the United States Congress on May 27, 1933, during the Great Depression and afte ...

and the Exchange Act, including fraud (First and Second Claims), and falsification of books, records or accounts (Fourth Claim). Through this action, the Commission is seeking permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil damages, and a prohibition against any of the defendants becoming officers of a securities-issuing entity under SEC jurisdiction. Alexander transferred over 40 million dollars from his personal U.S. bank account to his personal bank account in Israel. He was arrested by

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...

Windhoek, Namibia Windhoek (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek, which ...

on September 27, 2006. He was released on bail on October 3, 2006. According to a Reuters report of April 23, 2007, the Namibian government described Alexander as "very passionate" about the country and its people; Alexander has promised to boost academic interest in science and technology in Namibia by establishing an annual scholarship for primary and secondary level students. He has also begun to introduce advanced technology to the country with his development of a low budget solar powered housing project for 100 low-income Namibian families. Despite fighting extradition to the United States, Alexander announced on January 28, 2008, that he has filed suit against Comverse. Alexander claims the firm owes him $72 million in severance, unexercised stock options, and bonus pay. On July 3, 2008, a Namibian court split decisions for and against Alexander granting his request to remove the judge currently assigned to preside at his extradition hearing while declining to assign a magistrate of his choosing. Additionally, the Namibian High Court did not, at Alexander's attorneys' request, rule unconstitutional the Extradition Act which would allow Alexander to be imprisoned at some point during the upcoming extradition hearing. As reported by Bloomberg.com on November 19, 2008, a hearing to request Alexander's extradition to the United States was postponed until March 4, 2009, pending Alexander's appeal to Namibia's Supreme Court regarding which judge should hear the case. This appeal, not yet scheduled, will likely be adjudicated in March or April 2009. The final outcome of the extradition proceedings can be several years away pending the appeals process. Despite impending extradition proceedings, Alexander has invested heavily within the country. In 2011, Alexander settled the civil charges with the SEC and gave up bank accounts worth $46 million to federal authorities. On August 22, 2016, it was reported by Scott Cohn on

CNBC CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...

that Alexander would return to the US to face criminal charges. On February 23, 2017, Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the Eastern District of New York sentenced Alexander to 30 months in prison. On March 1, 2018, Alexander was transferred to Israel to carry out his remaining sentence. Later in 2018 he was released from prison.Revealed: Israel's cyber-spy industry helps world dictators hunt dissidents and gays
Hagar Shezaf, Jonathan Jacobson, Oct. 19, 2018,

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

Education

Career

Awards and accomplishments

Criminal charges

References

Further reading