Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York | Department of Justice
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced that Andrew Warner and Kishore Vangipuram, both former senior executives at Mobileum, Inc., have been indicted on charges including conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud. The indictment alleges that Warner, the company’s former Chief Financial Officer, and Vangipuram, the former Chief Delivery Officer, engaged in a scheme to artificially inflate Mobileum’s financial performance before its sale in 2022 for $915 million.
Warner surrendered in San Jose, California and appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen. Vangipuram was arrested at San Francisco International Airport and is scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kandis A. Westmore. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken.
“As alleged, Andrew Warner and Kishore Vangipuram manipulated Mobileum’s financial metrics to sell the company at a higher price and, as a result, line their own pockets,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “The company’s investors, creditors, and employees deserved fair and complete financial information, not inflated numbers and schemes. When C-Suite executives commit fraud, the women and men of our Office, together with our law enforcement partners, will hold them accountable. That is what investors and the American people want.”
FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle Jr., stated: “Andrew Warner and Kishore Vangipuram allegedly exaggerated their company’s fiscal success through doctored billable hours and invoices to defraud an unsuspecting investment firm of nearly one billion dollars. These two executives allegedly exploited their respective CFO and CDO positions to betray the trust of an interested buyer out of selfish greed. The FBI continues to protect the integrity of corporate transactions from fraudsters seeking to profit from deceitful practices.”
According to the indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court, Warner and Vangipuram began their scheme around September 2021 by falsifying revenue figures at Mobileum—a Silicon Valley-based data analytics provider for telecommunications firms worldwide—to make it appear more valuable ahead of its acquisition by a private equity firm.
They are accused of manipulating revenue recognition by instructing employees to transfer non-billable project hours onto billable projects and reduce estimates for total project effort—tactics that falsely increased recognized revenue on paper. This manipulation led to millions of dollars in fictitious revenue being reported prior to Mobileum's sale.
To hide these actions from the prospective buyer—who raised concerns about unusually high unbilled revenue—Warner and Vangipuram allegedly directed staff to generate fake invoices for milestones that had not actually been achieved but ensured these were not sent directly to clients.
After Mobileum was acquired based on these false metrics for $915 million in March 2022—with Warner receiving approximately $5.2 million and Vangipuram about $5.5 million—the pair continued efforts to conceal their actions until 2024 when the new owners uncovered discrepancies leading to Mobileum's bankruptcy filing.
Both defendants face charges that carry maximum sentences ranging from five years (for conspiracy) up to twenty years (for each count of securities fraud or wire fraud). Sentencing will be determined by the presiding judge if they are convicted.
Mr. Clayton acknowledged the work of the FBI in investigating this case.
The prosecution is being managed by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Peter J. Davis, Alexander Li, and Samuel P. Rothschild from the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force.
