A former Vice-President of Qualcomm was sentenced by a federal jury in San Diego on Tuesday of fraud by wire and money laundering as part of a program worth $ 180 million, said the American prosecutor’s office.
Karim Arabi, former vice-president of the Research and Development Department, was sentenced following a four-week and “less than two” day of deliberation, officials said in a statement.
The accusations arose from a regime in which Arabi and others led Qualcomm to buy a start-up whose technology he already had according to his work agreement with Arabi.
“The accused took advantage of the trust placed to him, lining his pockets with millions by orchestrating a deception plan, then bleeding his own employer,” the American lawyer Andrew Haden said in a statement.
According to the prosecutors, any intellectual property developed by Arabi while he was on the pay of Qualcomm belonged to the technological giant of San Diego.
At a given time of his job at Qualcomm, in the mid-2010s, Arabi developed a new method to assess micro-processors.
Arabi, hiding his involvement with false names and messaging accounts, has marketed Development in Qualcomm under the cover of a start-up.
Qualcomm bought the company for $ 180 million in 2015 with an initial payment of $ 150 million.
“Dr. Arabi has created false messaging accounts and sent false emails to pretend to be his sister, Sheida Alan, the supposed inventor of the new technology,” the American prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
Alan legally changed his surname of Arabi to “hide his relationship with Dr. Arabi more,” said officials.
Alan was paid nearly $ 92 million under the agreement, according to evidence presented at the trial, officials said.
After the sale, Arabi and the co-conspirators would have used foreign real estate purchases to whiten funds.
Arabi, with Alan, Ali Akbar Shokouhi, who had also been vice-president of Qualcomm, and Sanjiv Taneja, who was CEO of the “startup”, were charged in 2022.
Taneja and Shokouhi both pleaded guilty of money laundering before the Arabi trial and should be sentenced this summer.
Alan is awaiting extradition to the United States of Canada, according to statements by prosecutors made to the court.
Arabi risks a maximum of 20 years in prison for each of the three accusations which he was sentenced and fines of up to $ 1 million.
The prosecutors declared before the court that they expected to request $ 89.5 million in restitution.
He should be sentenced on June 27.
California Daily Newspapers
