AremisSoft Ex-Chairman Poyiadjis Indicted for Fraud. New York,
March 25 (Bloomberg) -- AremisSoft Corp.'s former
chairman and
co-chief executive, Roys Poyiadjis, has been indicted for fraud in a scheme
that cost investors at least $300 million,authorities said.
Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment last month against
Poyiadjis, a British citizen now living in Cyprus, though they
didn't publicly announce it. The charge came to light in a case
filed Friday in which prosecutors say they are seeking to seize
$175 million in illicit profits diverted to two overseas banks by
Poyiadjis and co-CEO Lycourgos Kyprianou.
AremisSoft filed for bankruptcy on March 15. The maker of
business-management software has said it can't substantiate $90
million in revenue booked by its Emerging Markets Group. In
October, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Poyiadjis
and Kyprianou with making more than $300 million in secret stock
sales while AremisSoft was reporting inflated revenue.
``While the public was being misled about the true nature of
AremisSoft and its revenues, Poyiadjis and Kyprianou capitalized
on that fraud by secretly selling millions of AremisSoft shares
through nominee corporations and offshore accounts,'' prosecutors
said in a civil forfeiture complaint.
U.S. prosecutors are seeking to seize funds held at Fleming
Bank and Standard Bank, both in the Isle of Man.
Inflated Revenue
A spokeswoman for Minneapolis-based AremisSoft didn't have an
immediate comment. Shares in the company, which in early 2001 was
worth more than $1 billion, rose one cent to 51 cents in afternoon
trading. The company's stock is now worth $20 million, though
under a proposed reorganization, all shares will be cancelled,
according to a filing with the SEC.
The SEC says Poyiadjis made about $175 million in illegal
profits from trading company stock in 2000, and Kyprianou made at
least $125 million. The two sold AremisSoft stock through offshore
entities after the company inflated its revenue, which drove up
the stock price, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors say AremisSoft inflated revenue by ``grossly''
overstating the value of its contracts, or even making them up,
and by exaggerating the size of several acquisitions.
In 1999, for instance, the company, then based in Westmont,
New Jersey, announced that it obtained a $37.5 million health
computer contract with the National Health Insurance Fund of
Bulgaria, authorities said. The Bulgarian government said last
year that the contract's value was actually $3.9 million.
Poyiadjis, who once lived in New York, hasn't responded to
the indictment, according to court records. There's no indication
in records that Kyprianou has been similarly charged. A spokesman
for U.S. Attorney James Comey didn't have an immediate comment.
In the forfeiture case, prosecutors say they've traced $175
million of the ``hundreds of millions'' that Poyiadjis and
Kyprianou ``stole'' to four accounts at the two banks. Prosecutors
want U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa to authorize seizure of the
money.
--David Glovin in U.S. District Court in New York at (212) 732-
9245, or at dglovin@bloomberg.net, through the New York newsroom
(212) 893-3665. Editor: Pinsley
Story illustration: For graph of AremisSoft stock, type
{AREM US <Equity> GPO <GO>}
AREM US <Equity> CN
NI Codes
NI IBS
NI FRAUD
NI UK
NI CRIME
NI JUS
NI INDIA
NI SEC
NI SCR
NI LAW
NI MN
NI US
NI CYPRUS
NI NYC
NI NJ |
