Two bad boys

Robert William Herman, formerly a director of the North America Sales Department of Qualcomm, pleaded guilty today (August 21) to insider trading.

Herman was secretly told by his Qualcomm supervisor that the company was contemplating an acquisition. He learned that the possible target was a company named Atheros; on January 4 of last year, Herman bought 4000 shares of Atheros and later the same day sold them for a profit of $29,318. He will be sentenced November 21.

In other news from the United States Attorney's Office, Svein Erik Ulsteen, a former executive of Anturion Limited (based in the offshore tax and secrecy haven of the Channel Islands), was sentenced to 46 months in prison for bilking investors of more than $2 million.

Ulsteen sold investors counterfeit and forged Anturion securities and cheated the Internal Revenue Service out of $400,000. He spent investors' money on things such as a yacht and BMW auto. He wanted to get back to his native Norway but U.S. District judge James Lorenz told him, "You're just a con man."