Ex-Fry's exec gets 6 years for embezzling $65 MILLION

Ex-Fry's exec gets 6 years for embezzling
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer


A former Fry's Electronics executive was sentenced Thursday to six years in federal prison for embezzling money through a kickback scheme and using it to finance his gambling habit.

Ausaf Umar Siddiqui, 44, who was the vice president of merchandising and operations for Fry's in San Jose, pleaded guilty earlier this year to wire fraud and money laundering. As part of his plea, Siddiqui, who recently declared bankruptcy, agreed to pay restitution or forfeit the more than $65 million he stole from Fry's since 2005.

Siddiqui dropped millions on a luxurious lifestyle that included gambling jaunts in Las Vegas, to which he was flown on private jets paid for by casinos, authorities said.

Siddiqui had sought a sentence of three years, citing what his attorney, Paul Meltzer, called a "severe gambling addiction."

"Mr. Siddiqui's crimes were not caused by greed or criminal disposition, but out of desperation due to the enormous debts that resulted from his gambling addiction," Meltzer wrote in court papers.

He said that even a shorter prison sentence would "represent a complete change of circumstances for someone who spent a number of years being treated like royalty by casinos all over the world."

U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel in San Jose ordered Siddiqui to serve six years in prison.