Former CA chief executive Sanjay Kumar was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison last night for his role in a $2.2 billion accounting fraud at the computer software company.
US District Judge Leo Glasser also fined the former executive $8 million at the hearing in Brooklyn federal court over the fraud, which cost company shareholders more than $400 million.
Kumar (44), pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy, securities fraud and obstruction of justice in April, just two weeks before his trial was due to start.
Sanjay Kumar arrives for his sentencing hearing at Brooklyn Federal Court today
He had faced life in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, but Judge Glasser said that would be an unreasonable punishment for a financial fraud.
As part of an accounting scheme, Kumar improperly booked software licence revenue from 1999 to 2000 in order to meet Wall Street analysts' profit expectations and then lied to investigators about it, the government said.
"I know that I was wrong and there was no excuse for my misconduct," Kumar told the judge. "I've tried my best to work hard, help others in need and be a good family man."
His lawyers made a lengthy appeal for leniency, citing Kumar's charitable works for children in Long Island, New York, elephants in Africa and victims of the 2004 tsunami in his native Sri Lanka. They also said that CA was not heavily damaged by the accounting scheme.
But, while making the government's appeal for a stricter punishment to Judge Glasser, Assistant US Attorney Eric Komitee told the judge Kumar's actions represented "the most brazen and comprehensive obstruction in the modern era of corporate crime".
CA, previously known as Computer Associates International, restated its results for fiscal 2001 through 2004 after Kumar left the company in 2004 after a career that spanned nearly two decades.