Sanjay Kumar (born 1962) is the former

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

and

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 ...

Computer Associates International CA Technologies, Inc., formerly Computer Associates International, Inc., and CA, Inc., was an American multinational enterprise software developer and publisher that existed from 1976 to 2018. CA grew to rank as one of the largest independent ...

(now CA Technologies), from 2000 until April 2004. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison in connection with the 35 day month accounting scandal and released in 2017.

Early childhood

He immigrated with his family to the

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in 1976 to escape civil unrest in his native Sri Lanka. The family originally settled in

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. He attended

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from 1980 to 1983, and left without completing a degree.

Career

Kumar became an employee of Computer Associates in 1987 when it acquired UCCEL Corp. in an $800 million buyout. Kumar was, at the time, UCCEL's director of software development and had been employed by UCCEL only for a few months. Kumar was promoted to vice president of planning the following year, relocating to Computer Associates'

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headquarters. Over the years, he held various leadership roles at the firm. In 1989, he became senior vice president of planning and in 1993 moved up to Executive Vice President of Operations. Kumar was named

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and

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in 1994 at age 31. Kumar succeeded the retiring Tony Wang, the older brother of

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 ...

Charles Wang Charles B. Wang (; August 19, 1944 – October 21, 2018) was a Chinese-American billionaire, businessman, and philanthropist, who was a co-founder and CEO of Computer Associates International, Inc. (later renamed CA Technologies). He was a min ...

, as Tony was pressured to leave to make way. In 2000, Kumar replaced his mentor

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 the firm and in 2002 became

of Computer Associates'

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 ...

. Kumar is widely credited with moving CA to be more customer-friendly.

Resignation

Kumar resigned as chairman and chief executive in April 2004, following an investigation into securities fraud and obstruction of justice at Computer Associates. He remained with the firm in the new position of chief software architect for about six weeks before leaving the firm altogether on June 4, 2004. A federal

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indicted him on fraud charges on September 22, 2004. Kumar pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and securities fraud charges on April 24, 2006. On November 2, 2006, it was reported that he was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $8 million for his role in a massive accounting fraud at Computer Associates.

Sentencing

At the hearing in federal court in Brooklyn, Judge Leo Glasser sentenced Kumar, 44 years old, to 144 months in prison, to be followed by three years supervised release. The judge deferred payment of the fine until after restitution is determined at a hearing scheduled for February 2, 2007. Kumar was scheduled to report to prison on February 27, but that was delayed by two months due to delays in the restitution hearing. The start of the prison sentence was then delayed again, to November. However, in early June U.S. District Judge I. Leo Glasser ordered Kumar to surrender by August 14, 2007, to the federal correctional center in Fairton, New Jersey, to begin his 12-year sentence, and on that date he did so. Upon starting his prison sentence, Kumar alleged that Charles Wang, cofounder of Computer Associates, "personally directed" improper accounting there going back to 1987. Kumar said that board members Lewis Ranieri and Alfonse D'Amato, the former New York Republican senator, "had knowledge of" the accounting misdeeds for which he went to prison — going back "at least" to 2003. "I stand before your honor today to take full responsibility for my actions," Kumar said prior to sentencing. "I know that I was wrong and there's no excuse for my conduct." Kumar was released from federal prison on January 25, 2017.

Restitution

On April 13, 2007, Judge Glasser approved an agreement for Kumar to pay $798.6 million in restitution, at least $52 million by December 31, 2008. After he served his 12-year prison term, the government may take 20% of his future gross annual pay for restitution.

Other investments

At one time, Kumar was a part owner, with Wang, in the

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hockey team and

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arena football team, but, according to local news reports, Wang purchased Kumar's share in 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, Sanjay 1962 births Living people American computer businesspeople American technology chief executives Arena Football League executives National Hockey League executives National Hockey League owners New York Islanders executives Sri Lankan emigrants to the United States Sri Lankan Tamil people Sri Lankan businesspeople Tamil businesspeople American chief operating officers