Comverse Technology’s former General Counsel, William F. Sorin, has been sentenced to 366 days in prison for securities backdating, in a plea-bargain made with the Brooklyn district attorney.
Sorin was also ordered to pay $52 million in damages, as compensations to stock holders who suffered losses by the securities backdating, which took place in 1998-2002. Payment of the damages is pending results of two other trials held against other suspects by the US Securities and Exchange commission.
Sorin, along with two other senior executives in Comverse Technology, CEO Kobi Alexander and former CFO (Chief Financial Officer) David Kreinberg, have been charged with earning millions of dollars illegal compensation through fraudulent back dating of stock options. Kreinberg previously pleaded guilty back in October 2006.
Alexander fled abroad during the investigation and was arrested last October in Namibia. The U.S. government is still seeking his extradition.
Commentary: Sorin earns the dubious distinction of being the first executive involved in the stock-option backdating scandal to be sentenced to prison. The restitution amount will likely be cut once the cases with the other defendants are resolved.
Humor is abound in the courts these days. In rejecting defense attorneys’ requests that Sorin be spared prison time U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis asserted that Sorin wasn’t “the grand Wizard of Oz,” but said that “he facilitated a portion of it with his actions.” Perhaps he is the scarecrow?
July 1st, 2007 at 5:07 am
With over ten years behind me since I walked into Federal Prison, I can clearly see the effects of the unethical choices I made at that time. I lived an illusory life reeking of illusory success. Those illusions were shattered and the consequences were severe.
The day I walked through those prison doors was clearly one of the worst days of my life. I can’t begin to describe how low, unworthy, and valueless I felt as I took on my new identity. I went from being what some folks would describe as “somebody” to being what most would call a “nobody.” I was effectively the lowest of low in our society. Yet, looking back over my life since then, I found that this was one of the most valuable experiences of my life. Not only did I learn many valuable lessons that have been life changing, but also I’ve found that sharing these lessons have been beneficial to others.
Consequence doesn’t carry with it an emotional outcome of good or bad. Consequence is just the outcome. Whether it is good or bad depends on the choice made and how the recipient feels about the consequence. We can wander in the illusion of life and think that we have eluded the consequences of our unethical choices, but those consequences are inescapable. Whether in our personal life or in business, the choices we make on a daily basis will always have a consequence.
As a professional speaker and founder of the Choices Foundation, I speak to young people about the choices they make in hopes that they can make the connection between choices and consequences – ethics and integrity – thereby avoiding the severe consequences – prison – that can follow.