Computer Associates’ Sanjay Kumar indicted for fraud
ALEX BERENSON
Posted: Sep 24, 2004 at 0025 hrs IST
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 23 A federal grand jury yesterday charged Sanjay Kumar, the former chairman and chief executive of Computer Associates International, with securities fraud and obstruction of justice, in what may be the last major white-collar criminal case to come out of the accounting scandals of the late 1990’s.
The grand jury also indicted Stephen Richards, the company’s former executive vice president for worldwide sales, on similar charges. Kumar and other senior executives, according to the indictment, were so desperate to meet Wall Street’s forecasts for Computer Associates’ quarterly profits that they backdated billions of dollars in contracts to do so. In one case, Kumar flew to Paris so he could personally persuade a customer to sign a backdated contract, the indictment says. According to the indictment, when the government began to investigate accusations of accounting misconduct in 2002, Kumar and Richards encouraged employees to mislead prosecutors and SEC lawyers.
Lawyers for Richards and Kumar denied the charges.
Five other former executives of Computer Associates, the fourth-largest independent software company, have already pleaded guilty to charges of securities fraud or obstruction of justice stemming from the investigation. The company’s former general counsel, Steven Woghin, pleaded guilty yesterday before Judge I. Leo Glasser in Federal District Court in Brooklyn.
Separately, Judge Glasser approved a deal between Computer Associates and government investigators that would let the company avoid prosecution. The company agreed to pay $225 million in restitution to shareholders and improve its accounting and ethics practices under the oversight of an independent monitor; in return, prosecutors will dismiss securities fraud and obstruction charges against the company in 18 months, as long as the monitor finds that the company is abiding by the agreement.
The company, which has 15,000 employees, including 3,000 at its headquarters in Islandia, New York, has been dogged since the late 1990’s by a reputation for poor customer service and aggressive accounting practices.
Computer Associates’ stock, which traded as high as $75 in 2000 before falling as low as $7.61 in July 2002, after the investigation was disclosed, fell 38 cents yesterday, to $25.30. ‘‘This closes what I think is an important chapter in the company’s history and opens up a new one,’’ said Lewis S. Ranieri, a former investment banker who succeeded Kumar as chairman in April.
Computer Associates also said it would try to force executives ‘‘engaged in any improper conduct’’ to give back the pay and bonuses they received during the period in question. In 1998, Kumar received a stock bonus of $330 million, among the biggest one-time payments ever given to an executive, though he later returned about $70 million in stock to settle a shareholder lawsuit. He was paid another $20 million in salary and bonuses from 1997 to 2004. Prosecutors claim that Kumar and Richards encouraged employees to backdate contracts by a few days so the company could recognise profits from sales sooner than it should have.
Analysts said they thought the settlement would benefit the company. ‘‘The settlement should also clear a roadblock in the company’s ability to hire a permanent CEO,’’ Jason Maynard, a Merrill Lynch analyst said. — NYT
Computer Associates’ Sanjay Kumar indicted for fraud
ALEX BERENSON
Posted: Sep 24, 2004 at 0025 hrs IST
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 23 A federal grand jury yesterday charged Sanjay Kumar, the former chairman and chief executive of Computer Associates International, with securities fraud and obstruction of justice, in what may be the last major white-collar criminal case to come out of the accounting scandals of the late 1990’s.
The grand jury also indicted Stephen Richards, the company’s former executive vice president for worldwide sales, on similar charges. Kumar and other senior executives, according to the indictment, were so desperate to meet Wall Street’s forecasts for Computer Associates’ quarterly profits that they backdated billions of dollars in contracts to do so. In one case, Kumar flew to Paris so he could personally persuade a customer to sign a backdated contract, the indictment says. According to the indictment, when the government began to investigate accusations of accounting misconduct in 2002, Kumar and Richards encouraged employees to mislead prosecutors and SEC lawyers.
Lawyers for Richards and Kumar denied the charges.
Five other former executives of Computer Associates, the fourth-largest independent software company, have already pleaded guilty to charges of securities fraud or obstruction of justice stemming from the investigation. The company’s former general counsel, Steven Woghin, pleaded guilty yesterday before Judge I. Leo Glasser in Federal District Court in Brooklyn.
Separately, Judge Glasser approved a deal between Computer Associates and government investigators that would let the company avoid prosecution. The company agreed to pay $225 million in restitution to shareholders and improve its accounting and ethics practices under the oversight of an independent monitor; in return, prosecutors will dismiss securities fraud and obstruction charges against the company in 18 months, as long as the monitor finds that the company is abiding by the agreement.
The company, which has 15,000 employees, including 3,000 at its headquarters in Islandia, New York, has been dogged since the late 1990’s by a reputation for poor customer service and aggressive accounting practices.
Computer Associates’ stock, which traded as high as $75 in 2000 before falling as low as $7.61 in July 2002, after the investigation was disclosed, fell 38 cents yesterday, to $25.30. ‘‘This closes what I think is an important chapter in the company’s history and opens up a new one,’’ said Lewis S. Ranieri, a former investment banker who succeeded Kumar as chairman in April.
Computer Associates also said it would try to force executives ‘‘engaged in any improper conduct’’ to give back the pay and bonuses they received during the period in question. In 1998, Kumar received a stock bonus of $330 million, among the biggest one-time payments ever given to an executive, though he later returned about $70 million in stock to settle a shareholder lawsuit. He was paid another $20 million in salary and bonuses from 1997 to 2004. Prosecutors claim that Kumar and Richards encouraged employees to backdate contracts by a few days so the company could recognise profits from sales sooner than it should have.
Analysts said they thought the settlement would benefit the company. ‘‘The settlement should also clear a roadblock in the company’s ability to hire a permanent CEO,’’ Jason Maynard, a Merrill Lynch analyst said. — NYT
Computer Associates’ Sanjay Kumar indicted for fraud
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