Sanjay Kumar

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For the Indian soldier, see Sanjay Kumar (soldier).

Sanjay Kumar (born Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1962) was the Chairman & CEO of Computer Associates International (now CA, Inc.), until April 2004. He emigrated with his family to the US in 1976 to escape civil unrest in his native Sri Lanka. The family originally settled in South Carolina.

Kumar became an employee of Computer Associates in 1987, when it acquired UCCEL Corp. in an $800 million buy-out. Kumar was, at the time, UCCEL's director of software development. Prior to the take-over of UCCEL, Kumar was planted as a mole to aid in the take-over. He rose to power when Bob Tapia was removed from office in a RIF just months prior to the take-over.

Kumar was promoted to Vice President of Planning the following year, relocating to Computer Associates' Long Island headquarters. Over the years he held various leadership roles at the firm. In 1989, he became Senior Vice President of Planning and in 1993 moved up to Executive Vice President of Operations. Kumar was named President and Chief Operating Officer in 1994 at age 31.

In 2000, Kumar replaced his mentor Charles Wang as Chief Executive Officer of the firm and in 2002 became Chairman of Computer Associates' board of directors.

Kumar resigned as chairman and chief executive in April 2004, following an investigation into securities fraud and obstruction of justice at Computer Associates. He remained with the firm in the new position of Chief Software Architect for about six weeks before leaving the firm altogether on June 4, 2004. A federal grand jury in Brooklyn indicted him on fraud charges on September 22, 2004 [1]. Kumar pled guilty to obstruction of justice and securities fraud charges on April 24, 2006 [2].

Kumar was due to be sentenced on September 11, 2006, however this was delayed until October 12, 2006 and is believed to be at the request of his lawyers [3]. Sentencing was postponed again to October 30, 2006 with a witness testimony hearing. On November 2, 2006, it was reported that he was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $8 million for his role in a massive accounting fraud at Computer Associates.

At the hearing in federal court in Brooklyn, Judge Leo Glasser sentenced Kumar, 44 years old, to 144 months in prison, to be followed by three years supervised release. The judge deferred payment of the fine until after restitution is determined at a hearing scheduled for February 2, 2007. Kumar is scheduled to report to prison on February 27, 2007.

"I stand before your honor today to take full responsibility for my actions," Mr. Kumar said prior to sentencing. "I know that I was wrong and there’s no excuse for my conduct."

CA sued Kumar for $14.9 million for the cost of legal defense during his trial. On November 17, 2006 a court agreed to lay claim to Kumar's $9 million mansion, two Ferrari sports cars, 57-foot yacht, and some other cars [4].