And the Kobi Alexander story gets stranger. The former chief executive of Comverse Technology, who fled to the African country of Namibia to avoid being arrested and charged with corporate fraud for his role in a stock-backdating scheme, is suing the company he founded. Alexander, in the suit, alleges Comverse owes him $72 million in severance pay and other compensation.
The fugitive’s suit follows a similar suit filed by Comverse earlier in the month in which Comverse is suing Alexander and former general counsel William Sorin for more than $70 million for allegedly backdating stock options.
You have to say one thing about Kobi, he sure has … guts.
From the Reuters story:
The lawsuit follows a case filed by the company accusing Alexander of fraud. Alexander says in his complaint that Comverse refused to live up to its obligations to him after he left the company in 2006, such as allowing him to exercise valuable stock options he received as part of his compensation.
The company “has also refused to honor its other contractual obligations to Alexander, including but not limited to his right to severance pay, indemnification and advancement of his legal fees, bonuses and fringe benefits,” the lawsuit says.
The contract breaches to Alexander “have caused him damages in excess of $72 million,” the lawsuit contends. The case was filed late on Friday.
