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Ex-Netflix Exec Found Guilty of Taking Bribes and Kickbacks Worth $500K

Michael Kail set up million-dollar contracts with nine companies in exchange for $500,000 in stock options and kickbacks, prosecutors said.

A former Netflix VP, who managed the company’s internet technology affairs, has been found guilty of accepting nearly half a million dollars in bribes and kickbacks. Between 2012 and 2014, Michael Kail set up million-dollar contracts with nine tech companies that led him to accept more than $500,000 in stock options and kickbacks, prosecutors said. He set up a company to accept the bribes, which he used to buy a home in Los Gatos. He was charged with 19 counts of wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud, and seven counts of money laundering. On Friday, he was found guilty of 28 of 29 charges.

His lawyer, Julia Jayne, said, “We are very disappointed in the jury’s verdict... It goes to show that an innocent person can be convicted when there are so many counts stacked against them and there is a powerful corporation, Netflix, driving the investigation and prosecution.”