3 former Comverse officials charged

NEW YORK -- Comverse Technology Inc.'s former chief executive, Jacob ``Kobi" Alexander, and two other ex-company officials were criminally charged yesterday as the government intensified a crackdown on stock-option manipulation.

Prosecutors said Alexander, 54; David Kreinberg, 41, a former finance chief; and William Sorin, 56, former general counsel, backdated ``millions of stock options" so employees could buy shares at low prices. Alexander had not surrendered and was being sought.

More than 90 companies have said they are the subject of government or internal stock-option inquiries.

``Rest assured, Comverse will not be the last," said Jacob S. Frenkel, a former Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer in Rockville, Md. ``I think we're likely to see a steady stream of these cases over the next six to 12 months, some criminal, some SEC civil cases."

Alexander, who has dual US and Israeli citizenship, wired ``nearly $60 million" to Israel last month, the government said. Authorities have seized $45 million from two US investment accounts in Alexander's name.

The former officials of New York-based Comverse, the world's largest maker of voice-mail software, were charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud. The conspiracy charges are punishable by up to five years in prison. The company wasn't charged.

Kreinberg and Sorin appeared in court yesterday; they will enter pleas later.