A US arrest warrant has been issued for Jon Waldron, a former IT executive at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
A US federal grand jury has returned an indictment for Waldron in connection to allegations that he, along with Eric Pulier, the founder of US software company ServiceMesh, and another former CBA IT executive, Keith Hunter, participated in an elaborate kickback scheme.
The alleged scheme saw Hunter and Waldron receive kickbacks in return for awarding business to ServiceMesh, ahead of the software company’s acquisition by CSC. The apparent aim was to boost ServiceMesh’s revenue in order to boost the price paid by CSC.
The CBA duo is alleged to have facilitated the awarding of US$10.4 million in contracts to ServiceMesh. The contracts involved McAfee and Pivotal Cloud Foundry software and services.
The scheme allegedly involved channelling money via a not-for-profit established by Pulier named the Ace Foundation.
The US indictment charges Pulier and Waldron with conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud, one count of securities fraud and four counts of wire fraud, according to a statement released by the US Attorney’s Office.
Pulier faces additional charges of interstate travel and use of interstate facility in aid of commercial bribery, obstruction of justice, and two counts of filing a false tax return.
The conspiracy and securities fraud counts are punishable by up to 25 years in prison. The wire fraud charges each carries a maximum jail term of five years.
Pulier and Waldron also face civil actions filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.