前高通研发副总裁被陪审团定罪:把本属高通的技术以1.8亿美元卖回给高通

美国司法部加州南区检察官办公室宣布,在加利福尼亚州圣迭戈县圣迭戈市的联邦法院,联邦陪审团裁定高通公司前研发副总裁卡里姆·阿拉比(Karim Arabi)犯有电汇欺诈共谋、电汇欺诈与洗钱共谋罪,认定他把本应属于高通的一项微芯片技术,以1.8亿美元卖回给了高通。阿拉比现年58岁,住在圣迭戈。
检方在庭上指出,阿拉比在高通任职时签有协议,他在高通工作期间发明的几乎全部技术都归高通所有。他却自行开发出一项有价值的微芯片技术,再创立一家名为 Abreezio 的公司来推销这项技术,并刻意隐瞒自己与这家公司的关系:他是这家公司的影子首席执行官,公司名称由他选定,连办公室家具他都过问。
为把骗局做圆,阿拉比开设虚假电子邮件账户、冒充自己的妹妹发送假邮件,把妹妹包装成这项新技术的发明人。司法部说,他的妹妹在 Abreezio 的组建、开发、推销与出售全程中其实毫无角色;2015年夏,Abreezio 提交新一轮专利申请时,她还依法改了姓,以进一步掩盖她与阿拉比的关系。
交易完成后,高通在不知情的情况下向阿拉比的妹妹支付了近9,200万美元;司法部说,高通在发现这是一场骗局之前,已向阿拉比的同伙等人总共支付了约1.5亿美元。骗局得手后阿拉比继续掩盖:他把钱投向加拿大和挪威的房地产并隐瞒自己的参与,又经中间空壳公司把资金转回他在美国的公司,在高通其后提起的民事欺诈诉讼中一再撒谎,直到他被捕前一个月,仍在按期收取洗白后的骗款。
这场审判历时四周,陪审团评议不到两天即作出有罪裁定。代理联邦检察官安德鲁·哈登(Andrew Haden)说,被告利用了公司对他的信任,中饱私囊,其行为不只是背叛公司,更是直接冲击让商业保持诚信的公平与正直原则;联邦调查局圣迭戈办公室代理特别探员主管胡坦·莫什雷菲(Houtan Moshrefi)与国税局刑事调查局洛杉矶外勤办公室特别探员主管泰勒·哈彻(Tyler Hatcher)也分别表态,称企业高管实施欺诈必将被追责。
同案另外两名被告在阿拉比受审前已认罪:同为前高通雇员、Abreezio 主要投资人的阿里·阿克巴尔·肖库希(Ali Akbar Shokouhi)与 Abreezio 名义首席执行官桑吉夫·塔内贾(Sanjiv Taneja)均承认洗钱罪名,量刑原定于2025年8月1日与7月11日举行。本案由联邦调查局、国税局刑事调查局、美国法警局、加拿大皇家骑警与挪威国家经济与环境犯罪调查起诉局调查,联邦助理检察官尼古拉斯·皮尔恰克(Nicholas W. Pilchak)、贾纳基·乔普拉(Janaki G. Chopra)与埃里克·奥拉(Eric R. Olah)承办,司法部国际事务办公室提供重要协助;案号22-CR-1152。阿拉比面临的三项罪名每项最高可判20年监禁,并科高额罚款。(来源:美国司法部加州南区检察官办公室)
Former Qualcomm R&D Vice President Convicted of Selling Qualcomm's Own Technology Back to It for $180 Million
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California announced that a federal jury in San Diego, San Diego County, California, convicted Dr. Karim Arabi, a former vice president of research and development at Qualcomm, of wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, finding that he sold a microchip technology that rightfully belonged to Qualcomm back to the company for $180 million. Arabi is 58 and lives in San Diego.
Prosecutors told the jury that under Arabi's employment agreement, virtually all technology he invented while working at Qualcomm belonged to Qualcomm. Instead, he developed a valuable microchip technology, marketed it through a company he created, Abreezio, and carefully hid his involvement: he was the company's shadow chief executive, picked its corporate name and weighed in on its office furniture.
To carry out the scheme, Arabi created fake email accounts and sent phony emails impersonating his sister, presenting her as the supposed inventor of the new technology. The Justice Department said the sister was in fact a nonentity throughout Abreezio's formation, development, marketing and sale, and that in the summer of 2015, when Abreezio was filing a new round of patent applications, she legally changed her last name to further conceal her relationship with Arabi.
After the deal closed, Qualcomm unwittingly paid almost $92 million to Arabi's sister, and the department said Qualcomm actually paid $150 million in total to the coconspirators and others before discovering the fraud. The concealment continued afterward: Arabi invested the money in Canadian and Norwegian real estate while hiding his involvement, funneled funds back to his U.S. companies through intermediary shells, lied repeatedly through Qualcomm's subsequent civil fraud suit, and received steady installments of laundered proceeds until the month before his arrest.
The trial lasted four weeks and the jury deliberated for less than two days. Acting U.S. Attorney Andrew Haden said the defendant took advantage of the trust placed in him, lining his pockets by orchestrating a scheme to deceive and bleed his own employer, in a direct attack on the fairness and integrity that keep business honest. FBI San Diego Acting Special Agent in Charge Houtan Moshrefi and IRS Criminal Investigation Los Angeles Field Office Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher also said corporate executives who facilitate fraud will be held accountable.
Two other defendants pleaded guilty before Arabi's trial: Ali Akbar Shokouhi, another former Qualcomm employee and the primary investor in Abreezio, and Sanjiv Taneja, Abreezio's nominal chief executive, each pleaded guilty to money laundering and were scheduled to be sentenced on August 1, 2025, and July 11, 2025, respectively. The case, No. 22-CR-1152, was investigated by the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Norway's Økokrim, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicholas W. Pilchak, Janaki G. Chopra and Eric R. Olah, with substantial assistance from the Justice Department's Office of International Affairs. Each of Arabi's three counts carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and substantial fines. (Source: U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California)
来源:美国司法部加州南区检察官办公室
发布:GSM·美国(发布链接)
图片来源:图:位于加州圣迭戈的高通公司总部大楼(资料图),楼顶可见高通标志。图:Coolcaesar,CC BY-SA 4.0,via Wikimedia Commons / Photo: Qualcomm headquarters in San Diego, California (file photo), with the Qualcomm sign visible at the top. Photo: Coolcaesar, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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