Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

August 13 (Xinhua)-- A former vice president of Qualcomm and three others are suspected of defrauding the chip giant in a $150 million indictment released by federal court in San Diego on Friday, local time.

A federal grand jury filed an indictment in May, but it was recently unsealed. The indictment alleges that the four defendants orchestrated a plan to defraud Qualcomm after Karim Elaraby, a former vice president of research and development, came up with a faster way to evaluate microprocessor performance "designed for testing" while working at Qualcomm.

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According to Elaraby's employment agreement, the intellectual property created during his work at Qualcomm belongs to the company. Elaraby and three others took carefully planned steps to cover up his involvement in fraud, according to the indictment. They described the invention as the idea of a Canadian graduate student and commercialized it through a start-up in the San Francisco Bay area.

In fact, the graduate student is Elaraby's sister, Sheida Alan. Allen studied subjects related to inkjet printing, not semiconductor design, according to the indictment. In the process, Allen legally changed her name, and although she was listed as the inventor of the temporary patent, the applications were submitted by Elaraby using a fake e-mail account to conceal his identity, according to prosecutors.

Elaraby, 56, was involved in the startup, including making phone calls and attending meetings, choosing the company's name and personally selecting the chief executive, the indictment said. He is said to have taken measures to cover up his participation, including setting up fake e-mail accounts.

Elaraby is understood to have withheld this information during negotiations before Qualcomm acquired the eight-month-old start-up in October 2015. Elaraby left in June 2016 after working at Qualcomm on and off for nine years.

Elaraby and Ali Akbar Shokushi (Ali Akbar Shokouhi) have been arrested in Santiago. Prosecutors said Mr. Shokushi, an entrepreneur and consultant, was involved in the process of making startups look legal. He was also a former employee of Qualcomm. Shokushi pleaded not guilty when arraigned in federal court in San Diego and was released on $1 million bail. Elaraby was unable to appear in court for unknown reasons.

Sanjiv Taneja, chief executive of the start-up and a key negotiator, was arrested in northern California. Elaraby's sister Allen was arrested in Canada and is facing extradition to the United States.

If convicted, all four will face up to 20 years in prison, $250000 or a fine equivalent to twice their proceeds from fraud. The indictment also alleges that the four laundered money through programs including the purchase of foreign real estate and interest-free loans, which could result in fines of 500000 dollars and confiscation of property.

"fraudsters cannot hide behind complex technology or complex plots," US prosecutor Randy Grossman said in a statement. "We will track down criminals and their money laundering and ill-gotten gains, whether they are hidden in mattresses or scattered across the international financial system."

Qualcomm's identity is not specifically mentioned in the indictment, which is called a multinational technology company in San Diego. But in 2017, Qualcomm sued Elaraby, Taneja and Allen in San Diego Superior Court, essentially making the same charges.

"protecting intellectual property rights is the cornerstone of innovation," Qualcomm said in a statement. we thank the U.S. Department of Justice for its work in this case. "

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