SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A second technology executive pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to organizing a $150 million fraud scheme against Qualcomm.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California, Akbar Shokouhi, 64, said in his plea agreement he worked with his partner and co-defendent, 57-year-old Karim Arabi, and others to hide their involvement in Abreezio — a technology firm the two marketed to Qualcomm.
The U.S. Attorney also said that Arabi was a Qualcomm employee throughout the entire marketing period, hid his own connection to the firm and claimed the company was "angel-funded" despite its connections to Qualcomm.
Shokouhi admitted Arabi's close involvement in Abreezio's name selection, creation, development and marketing to Qualcomm. Shokouhi also admitted that he referred to Arabi using an alias in text messages with others involved to conceal Arabi's involvement to the scheme, according to the release.
Court documents found Qualcomm agreed to pay an estimated $180 million for Abreezio.
Similar to Sanjiv Taneja, the third defendant who admitted to his own role in the scheme, Shokouhi said that he never met Arabi's family member, who allegedly created the company's core technologies.
Shokoubi was terminated from Qualcomm after a conflict-of-interest violation, the release said. He agreed to pay restitution and forfeited $16 million he received from Qualcomm's purchase of Abreezio as a part of the plea deal.
