10 Tech CEOs Who Were "Wanted"

“Bigger they are, harder they fall,” the proverb holds eternal truth and is same with these CEOs who led some of the most promising and revenue generating companies, living  envious lives but somehow with twist ended up behind bars or turned fugitives.

The recent episode of John McAfee, the antivirus pioneer, the tech tycoon, who after a massive manhunt is now imprisoned in Guatemala, and Julian Assange who is taken asylum in Ecuadorian embassy in London are such examples. There are other tech tycoons too who made it to the list of most wanted and traversed the globe in fear of imprisonment or, worse, paying back millions in reparations. Read on to know 10 such tech CEOs, who ran-in with law enforcement for tax evasions to alleged murderers, as compiled by Complex Tech.  

#1 Julian Assange

Company: WikiLeaks

Date captured: Dec. 7, 2010

Julian Paul Assange is an Australian editor, activist, publisher and journalist. He is best known as the editor-in-chief and founder of WikiLeaks, which publishes submissions of secret information, news leaks, and classified media from anonymous news sources and whistleblowers.

Since December 2010, Assange has been subject to a European Arrest Warrant in response to a Swedish police request for questioning in relation to a sexual assault investigation. In June 2012, following final dismissal by the Supreme Court of the UK of his appeal against enforcement of the European Arrest Warrant, Assange has failed to surrender to his bail, and has been treated by the UK authorities as having absconded.

Since 19 June 2012, he has been inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he has since been granted diplomatic asylum.

The British government intends to extradite Assange to Sweden under that arrest warrant once he leaves the embassy, which Assange says he fears may result in his subsequent extradition to the United States to face charges over the diplomatic cables case.

Courtesy: Wikipedia

#2 Kim "Dotcom" Schmitz

Company: Megaupload

Date captured: Jan. 21, 2012

Kim Schmitz, also known as Kimble, Kim Tim Jim Vestor, and Kim Dotcom, is a German born Internet entrepreneur, currently residing in New Zealand. As a teenager, Schmitz acquired a reputation in his native Germany after being convicted of bypassing the security of NASA, the Pentagon and Citibank under the name of Kimble – based on the character of Dr Richard Kimble in the long running television programme The Fugitive.

He is the founder of Megaupload and its associated websites. On 20 January 2012, the New Zealand Police placed him in custody in response to US charges of criminal copyright infringement in relation to his Megaupload website. Dotcom was accused of costing the entertainment industry $500 million through pirated content uploaded to his file-sharing site, which had 180 million registered users. Dotcom has vigorously denied the charges, and is fighting the attempt to extradite him to the United States.

New Zealand police raided the file-sharing kingpin’s mansion and arrested Schmitz (along with three other Megaupload executives) a day before his 38th birthday. Ironically, Dotcom is planning on launching a new online storage service called Mega in January 2013.

#3 Tomo Razmilovic

Company: Symbol Technologies

Date captured: On the run

Tomo Razmilovic is a businessman from the United States, formerly the chief executive New York-based Symbol Technologies.

On 28 May 2004, an arrest warrant for Razmilovic was issued by the United States District Court in Brooklyn, New York. According to the United States Postal Inspection Service, he is wanted for "carrying out a securities-related accounting fraud scheme wherein the investing public lost more than $200 million."

He fled to Sweden, citing "doubts" about the "American judicial system". In 2008, Forbes Magazine named Razmilovic one of the "World's Most Wanted White-Collar Fugitives".

In October 2011, the Securities and Exchange Commission received a judgment against Razmilovic ordering him to disgorge $41.7 million in gains from the alleged fraud, plus $20.8 million in penalties and up to $27 million in back interest, in addition to barring Razmilovic from ever again serving as an officer of a public company.

Currently, the United States Government considers him a fugitive, with the United States Postal Inspection Service offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction.

#4 Stein Bagger

Company: IT Factor

Date captured: Dec. 6, 2008

Stein Bagger is a Danish businessman, entrepreneur and former CEO of the now-bankrupt company IT Factory. Before bankruptcy and subsequent fraud-scandal, he was named "Danish Entrepreneur of the Year" by Ernst & Young, and his company was named "Denmark's best IT-company" two years in a row by the magazine Computerworld. 

Bagger disappeared on 27 November, 2008, while on a trip to Dubai with his wife and some business colleagues. The Danish CEO was accused of scamming several banks and Fortune 500 companies such as IBM out of an estimated $205 million, on the 11 June 2009, making this the biggest financial fraud case in Denmark in recent decades.

Bagger was charged with fraud and forgery, and a warrant for his arrest was put out by Interpol. Stein Bagger turned himself in to US police in downtown Los Angeles on 6 December 2008. On December 16, he was extradited to Denmark and jailed in isolation pending further investigations. Stein Bagger was sentenced to a 7 year prison sentence, and he blamed his actions on being blackmailed by unnamed sources.

#5 Kim Woo-Choong

Company: Daewoo

Date captured: June 2005

Kim Woo-choong was the founder and chairman of the Daewoo Group. In the mid-90s, Daewoo was the second largest conglomerate in South Korean—owning over 20 businesses specializing in telecommunications, transportation, and manufacturing.

The company was forced into bankruptcy in Asian financial crisis of 1997-98, when its chairman embezzled $43 billion, while illegally “borrowing” an additional $10.3 billion and smuggling $3.2 billion out of the country. Woo-Choong fled to France shortly after, and was on the list of Interpol.

He was arrested soon after he returned to South Korea on June 14, 2005, and apologized "for hurting the nation and accepted full responsibility for the collapse of the group, adding he is ready to accept whatever the authorities have in store for him," as reported by south Korean media. In May 2006 he was sentenced to 10 years in jail after being found guilty of charges including embezzlement and accounting fraud. 21 trillion won ($22bn) of his fortune was seized and he was fined an additional 10m won. On 30 December 2007, he was granted amnesty by President Roh Moo-hyun.

#6 Jacob Alexander

Company: Comverse Technologies

Date captured: Sept. 27, 2006

Jacob "Kobi" Alexander is an American businessman. He is the founder and the former CEO of New York-based Comverse Technology. In 2006, he was charged with multiple counts of fraud and related offenses pertaining to irregularities in trading of Comverse stock; he subsequently fled to Namibia, a nation which has no extradition treaty with the US.

He managed to transfer over $70 million from his US account to Israel, but was captured and held in Africa. From there, he was forced to pay back $53 million in civil suits. Alexander continued to fight extradition from Namibia and went on to sue his former company for $72 million in severance.

#7 William Millard

Company: Computerland Corp.

Date captured: Sept. 12, 2011

William "Bill" Millard was the founder of IMS Associates, makers of the IMSAI series of computers and the electronics retailer ComputerLand. He is regarded as the "father" of modern computer retailing. He is also been called one of the world's most elusive tax exiles.

He and his family moved to Saipan where he removed himself from the public view after selling his company. In September 2011, after 20 years, he was found living in the Cayman Islands and was arrested for $100 million in unpaid taxes.

#8 Gottfrid Svartholm Warg

Company: The Pirate Bay

Date captured: Sept. 2, 2012

Per Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, alias anakata, is a Swedish computer specialist, known as the former co-owner of the web hosting company PRQ and co-founder of the BitTorrent site The Pirate Bay together with Fredrik Neij and Peter Sunde. On 31 January 2008, all the Pirate Bay operators were charged with "promoting other people’s infringements of copyright laws and found to be guilty of "assisting in making copyright content available". Each defendant was sentenced to one year in prison and US$4,222,980 as damage charges from the company.

Warg was been a fugitive taking shelter in Cambodia for several years and on 30 August 2012, at the request of Swedish authorities, he was arrested by Cambodian police.

He’s set to carry out his one-year sentence with more jail time for fleeing the country from his initial verdict to be later assigned. The whole charges of copyright infringements were appealed again, the proceedings are yet hot in Swedish Courts.  

#9 Shaileshkumar "Sam" Jain

Company: Innovative Marketing

Date captured: On the run

Shaileshkumar Jain better known as Sam Jain is an internet entrepreneur and former CEO of affiliate marketing network eFront. Jain operated several Internet-based companies including Discount Bob, Shifting Currents Financials, Inc., Innovative Marketing and others.

On April 20, 2005 he was ordered to pay $3.1 million to Symantec for selling counterfeit software and violating intellectual property laws.

Innovative Marketing made over $100 million by selling “scareware” antivirus software, when Sam Jain was CEO of the company. Those products included WinFixer, Antivirus 2008, and VirusRemover 2008. Jain was charged for “conspiracy to commit computer fraud,” leading to a federal warrant being issued for his arrest. But Jain was already considered a fugitive, when warren was issued, for failing to show up for a court appearance in California and not paying a $250,000 bond. The Feds were able to seize $15 million from Jain’s Swiss bank account; however, he remains a U.S. fugitive, leaving no trails behind.

#10 John McAfee

Company: McAfee

Date captured: Dec. 6, 2012

John McAfee is an American computer programmer and founder of McAfee.

Anti-virus software pioneer John McAfee has been on the run for weeks, avoiding Belize police who want to question him about the death of his neighbor Gregory Faull, who was shot and killed on Nov. 11 and McAfee was labeled a "person of interest" by Belize authorities. McAfee apparently fled the country soon afterwards to avoid the police.

He was also accused of illegally sneaking into neighboring Guatemala, where he was denied political asylum and arrested, and he was rushed to the hospital following complaints of chest pains.