Tech Company CEO Pleads Guilty To Defrauding His Former Employer

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that SUNI MUNSHANI, the former Chief Executive Officer of a Connecticut-based technology company (the “Victim Company”), pled guilty today in Manhattan federal court in connection with a scheme to defraud the Victim Company of millions of dollars.  Pursuant to his plea agreement with the Government, MUNSHANI agreed to pay $10,485,043 in restitution to the Victim Company.  District Judge Jed S. Rakoff accepted the defendant’s guilty plea. 

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Not even a year into his appointment as CEO, Suni Munshani began betraying his employer’s trust and breaking the law, stealing millions of dollars to line his pockets.  Company executives are given significant amounts of power, but today’s plea should send the message that this Office will be ready to act if an executive chooses to abuse that power.”

According to the allegations in the Superseding Information and other filings and statements made in court:

Between 2011 and 2019, SUNI MUNSHANI was the CEO of the Victim Company, which provided data security services to its clients.  Within six months of his appointment as CEO, MUNSHANI and others began an approximately nine-year scheme to defraud the Victim Company.  During the scheme, MUNSHANI created an email account associated with a purported third-party contractor controlled by MUNSHANI and used that email account to correspond with the Victim Company and to obtain payments from the Victim Company totaling at least approximately $3 million dollars for services that were never provided to the Victim Company.  He also caused the Victim Company to issue a $3.5 million check for a purported tax liability, which check MUNSHANI then deposited into an unauthorized bank account created by MUNSHANI in the name of the Victim Company.  

In addition, MUNSHANI defrauded the Victim Company through fraudulent licensing and reseller agreements between the Victim Company and two other companies (the “Licensing Company” and the “Reseller Company,” respectively).  Among other things, MUNSHANI instructed another individual to set up the Reseller Company “in the same way as [the Licensing Company],” and then helped create and submit fraudulent invoices from the Reseller Company to the Victim Company.

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MUNSHANI, 61, of Easton, Connecticut, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. 

The maximum potential sentence in this case is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New York Office.

The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy V. Capozzi is in charge of the prosecution.