Cisco Vice President Is Arrested In $10 Million Embezzlement Plan
By a WALL STREET JOURNAL Staff Reporter
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- A vice president of Cisco Systems Inc. has been arrested on charges that he embezzled more than $10 million in schemes related to Cisco's investments in two smaller technology companies.
A criminal complaint filed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in San Jose, Calif., names Robert S. Gordon, a Cisco vice president of business development. The document accuses him of fraud in interstate commerce, with penalties ranging up to five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.
Mr. Gordon couldn't be reached. A Cisco spokesman confirmed the arrest but declined to make any additional comment.
An FBI affidavit alleges that Mr. Gordon fraudulently obtained 30,206 shares of stock in Internet Security Services Group Inc., a company that Cisco purchased. He allegedly transferred the stock to a company he established in the Bahamas and sold the shares.
The FBI alleges that Mr. Gordon transferred about $260,000 of the proceeds into his own account, and used about $5 million in a second fraudulent transaction, involving Spanlink Communications Inc., another Cisco partner. He allegedly arranged a transaction that appeared as if a venture capital firm were investing $5 million to help Spanlink keep operating. After Cisco invested $15 million in Spanlink, Mr. Gordon allegedly received $10 million from Spanlink to redeem the earlier $5 million investment, the affidavit alleges. |
