Ex-Netflix Executive Convicted in Bribery-Kickback Scheme

(Bloomberg) -- A former Netflix Inc. executive was convicted of taking kickbacks from vendors in exchange for approving millions of dollars in contracts for products and services, federal prosecutors said.

A jury on Friday found Michael Kail, a former vice president of IT operations, guilty of wire and mail fraud and money laundering after a two-week trial, according to a statement issued by the U.S. Attorney’s office in San Francisco.

“Bribery undermines fair competition and innovation in any business arena, and particularly Silicon Valley’s highly competitive environment of cutting-edge innovation,” Acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds said in the statement.

Kail used his influence at the company to rig its contracts with technology vendors “to unlock a stream of cash and stock kickbacks to himself,” Hinds said.

A vice president at Netflix from 2011 to 2014, Kail, 49, accepted bribes of more than $500,000 and stock options from nine tech companies providing products or services to Netflix, according to the statement.

Prosecutors want Kail to forfeit his home in Los Gatos, about 50 miles south of San Francisco, as well as other real estate jurors convicted him of buying with laundered money, prosecutors said.

Read More: Netflix Claims Ex-Executive Kail Took Contractor Kickbacks

Kail’s lawyer, Julia Mezhinsky Jayne, didn’t immediately respond to a phone call seeking comment.

Netflix didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The case is U.S. v. Kail, 18-0172, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose).

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