Four Tech Execs Charged in $150M Fraud Scheme Against San Diego Tech Giant

Steve Huff
Steve Huff is an Editor and Reporter at dot.LA. Steve was previously managing editor for The Metaverse Post and before that deputy digital editor for Maxim magazine. He has written for Inside Hook, Observer and New York Mag. Steve is the author of two official tie-ins books for AMC’s hit “Breaking Bad” prequel, “Better Call Saul.” He’s also a classically-trained tenor and has performed with opera companies and orchestras all over the Eastern U.S. He lives in the greater Boston metro area with his wife, educator Dr. Dana Huff.
person holding computer cell processor
Photo by Brian Kostiuk on Unsplash

The Department of Justice (DOJ) charged four people last week, alleging that they deceived a prominent San Diego technology firm in 2015 when the firm invested $150 million in the defendants’ startup Abreezio, which purported to offer innovative new microchip technology based on inventions by a Canadian grad student.

Defendants Karim Arabi and Ali Akbar Shokouhi were taken into custody in San Diego, and authorities arrested Sanjiv Taneja in the Northern District of California. The fourth defendant, Sheida Alan, was taken into custody in Canada. Authorities will seek her extradition to the United States for prosecution.


The DOJ indictment alleges that Arabi and Shokouhi used their positions with the buyer to create a fake multimillion-dollar sale. The defendants allegedly falsified business records and lied to company representatives about the startup’s value. While the DOJ didn’t name the defrauded company in its press release, Karim Arabi’s LinkedIn profile showed he was San Diego-based Qualcomm’s vice president for research and development between 2013 and 2016, and intelligence and sales engagement platform Apollo.io indicates Qualcomm acquired Abreezio in 2015.

A look at Abreezio’s website as archived in 2016 revealed a basic set of pages and just two team members—CEO Sanjiv Taneja and a CTO not named here because he was not included in the indictment. The home page advertised “groundbreaking TRUSENS technology to improve PPA [power, performance, and area] of SoCs [systems on a chip] providing one technology node advantage” and beneath that, in red letters, “Acquired by Qualcomm.”

But what did Qualcomm acquire when it purchased the startup? According to an indictment filed in the Southern California U.S. District Court, the semiconductor and wireless telecommunications products company paid $150 million to acquire Abreezio and proprietary technology—tech actually developed by Qualcomm employees taking advantage of their inside knowledge of the company.

The indictment alleges that Karim Arabi, who was vice president of research and development at the time at Qualcomm, took part in the creation of a new kind of microprocessor while at the same time another Qualcomm VP, Akbar Shokouhi, was funding Abreezio, filtering money through shadow companies.

According to the indictment, Arabi’s employment contract with Qualcomm stated that the company owned any “intellectual property he created” while employed there. So what Abreezio presented as “new” tech developed in part by Sheida Alan (a.k.a. Sheida Arabi), a grad student based in Canada, was already legally Qualcomm property.

The possibility that there was simply some misunderstanding between Qualcomm and Arabi or Shokouhi is quickly eliminated in reading the indictment, which alleges an elaborate coverup to conceal the true provenance of Abreezio’s technology. The scheme described in the court papers involved fake email accounts, Arabi allegedly filing patents using Alan’s name—he stated she was his sister—and money laundering through a combination of real estate transactions and loans. The indictment also alleges that Arabi colluded with Sanjiv Taneja by giving him Qualcomm’s “sensitive internal information about” the tech that Abreezio’s product would replace “in order to fine-tune Abreezio's marketing pitch.”

The defendants all cleaned up when Qualcomm bought Abreezio. Alan and Arabi received almost $92 million, Taneja $10 million and Shokouhi a total of $24 million.

The indictment enumerates a laundry list of financial crimes, including wire fraud, conspiracy to launder “monetary instruments,” and engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity. If convicted, the defendants face hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and the possibility of 20 years in prison.

In response to dot.LA’s request for comment, a Qualcomm spokesperson said, “Protecting intellectual property is a cornerstone of innovation. We thank the U.S. Department of Justice for its work in this case.”

steve@dot.la
LA Tech Week 2025: Sunday’s Event Lineup

Here's the Sunday, October 19th lineup for LA Tech Week 2025, organized by location so you can easily explore events that fit your goals and schedule. Dive in and see what’s happening near you!

ARTS DISTRICT

3:00 PM

BEL AIR

3:00 PM – 7:00 PM

BURBANK

6:30 PM – 9:30 PM

CULVER CITY

9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

4:30 PM – 7:30 PM

INGLEWOOD

10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

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KOREATOWN

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MARINA DEL REY

12:00 PM

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    Sawubona

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9:00 AM – 11:00 AM

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SANTA MONICA

9:00 AM

10:00 AM

3:45 PM

4:00 PM – 7:30 PM

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6:00 PM

7:00 PM

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7:00 PM

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8:00 PM

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10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

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10:00 AM

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10:00 AM

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2:00 PM

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7:00 PM – 10:00 PM

CULVER CITY

9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

10:00 AM – 11:30 AM

1:00 PM

DTLA

7:00 PM

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    MiniMax (Hailuo AI)

10:00 PM – 2:00 AM

EL SEGUNDO

10:00 AM

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    BLCK VC

4:00 PM

INGLEWOOD

7:00 PM

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MARINA DEL REY

8:30 AM

12:00 PM – 3:00 PM

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    LOST iN

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9:00 AM

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9:30 AM

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10:30 AM – 11:30 AM

11:00 AM – 2:15 PM

12:00 PM – 5:00 PM

1:00 PM – 5:00 PM

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    Santa Monica Striking, Luri Inc.

2:00 PM

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    Smart Times

2:00 PM

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    Startup Village, Sanctuary

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

4:00 PM – 6:30 PM

  • Just Do It?: Helping Founders Perform Like Olympians: See Details Here
    Elite Psychology Group

5:00 PM

6:00 PM

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

6:00 PM

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

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    Villa Kitchen, Airble, We Speak Dance, Techstars San Francisco

7:00 PM

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    Feathr, Los Angeles Fun Events

7:00 PM

  • Life is a Pitch - LA Edition: *Invite Only*
    DeepMyst

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5:00 PM – 8:30 PM

  • Walk&Jam: Use AI to make art while hiking Topanga Canyon: See Details Here
    Formhaus llc, Wonderland Immersive Design

TORRANCE

1:00 PM – 4:00 PM

  • Crunches & Conversations Presented by The Differentials and KIS Training Studios: See Details Here
    The Differentials, KIS Training Studios

VENICE

1:00 PM – 4:30 PM

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    Medusa AI

VENICE BEACH

8:00 AM – 12:00 PM

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    SŨRFED Club, Go Vitamins

WEST ADAMS

9:30 AM – 10:45 AM

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9:30 PM

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ARTS DISTRICT

8:30 AM – 12:00 PM

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6:00 PM

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BEVERLY HILLS

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

4:00 PM

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

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8:00 PM

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BRENTWOOD

8:00 AM

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CARSON

11:45 AM

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CULVER CITY

8:00 AM – 6:00 PM

11:00 AM

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EL SEGUNDO

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5:00 PM – 8:00 PM

HOLLYWOOD

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INGLEWOOD

8:00 AM

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11:30 AM – 1:30 PM

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PLAYA VISTA

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12:00 PM – 2:00 PM

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SANTA MONICA

7:00 AM – 8:30 AM

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7:30 AM

8:45 AM – 10:45 AM

9:00 AM – 11:00 AM

  • Slash Burn Rates & Scale Your Startup: See Details Here
    Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA)

9:00 AM

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    The PORT GLOBAL, GLOBAL PORTAL INSTITUTE

9:30 AM – 11:30 AM

10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

  • The Enduring Value of Inclusive Capital: See Details Here
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10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

10:30 AM

11:30 AM – 1:00 PM

  • Advisors to Investors Lunch: Venture Capital for enterprise leaders: See Details Here
    Collinear Capital, Worlds

12:00 PM

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    Powerhouse Capital, a16z, speedrun

2:00 PM

  • Where Robotics Meets Heart - Embedding Family Values in a Future with AI: See Details Here
    Trove, Puerto Rico Blockchain Association, MindfulBytes

2:00 PM

3:00 PM

3:00 PM

3:00 PM

  • Workshop: Create An Enterprise Chatbot and Unlock the 70% of Data Data You’re Not Using: See Details Here
    Aparavi

4:00 PM

5:00 PM – 10:00 PM

5:30 PM

5:30 PM – 9:30 PM

6:00 PM – 8:30 PM

  • USC Alumni Founders & Investors: See Details Here
    USC Alumni Entrepreneurship Network, Techstars

6:00 PM

  • Social Currency Series/Greenlit presents PitchPop: See Details Here
    Social Currency Series, Greenlit

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

6:30 PM

6:30 PM – 10:00 PM

6:30 PM

  • Lets get the LA Bioeconomy brewing: See Details Here
    Founders, Friends & Fermentation, Saku Biosciences

7:00 PM – 11:30 PM

7:00 PM – 10:00 PM

7:00 PM – 10:00 PM

7:00 PM

7:00 PM

  • Liquid Equity 2: The Premiere Gathering for Founders, Creator
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7:00 PM

7:00 PM

  • For the Love of Tech | Speed Dating for Tech Professionals: See Details Here
    Feathr, Los Angeles Fun Events

7:00 PM

SOUTH LA

3:00 PM

TORRANCE

9:00 AM – 11:00 AM

  • The Future of Space & Security Panel: See Details Here
    Northwood Space, Anduril Industries, Impulse Space, Astranis

VENICE

9:00 AM – 10:45 AM

9:00 AM – 11:30 AM

11:00 AM

11:30 AM – 2:30 PM

12:30 PM

  • Creative Partners: Human + AI Storytelling: See Details Here
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2:00 PM – 3:45 PM

5:00 PM

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6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

6:00 PM

  • Pizza+Soda: *Invite Only*
    Schmoozd , The KINN

7:00 PM

VENICE BEACH

2:00 PM – 6:30 PM

5:00 PM

8:30 PM – 2:00 AM

VIRTUAL (LA)

2:30 PM – 4:00 PM

3:00 PM

  • Government of Alberta: ProcurementAsCode // Done in 60 Seconds: See Details Here
    Government of Alberta

4:00 PM

  • Stop Hitting Yourself 🥊: See Details Here
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WEST HOLLYWOOD

3:00 PM – 6:00 PM

6:00 PM

WESTSIDE

5:00 PM

5:30 PM – 8:30 PM


For updates or more event information, visit the official Tech Week calendar.

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