ATLANTA,None — A star professor at Georgia Tech and two other employees surrendered at the Fulton County Jail to face $2 million racketeering charges on Friday.
Channel 2 Action News had the only cameras rolling as microchip professor Joy Laskar, research engineer Stephane Pinel and office administrator Chris Evans were arrested.
Professor Accused Of Stealing $2M From Ga. Tech
Laskar and his team were behind a microchip breakthrough that his lawyer said is potentially worth millions of dollars. But their activities were put under the microscope when internal auditors spotted strange financial transfers to a microchip company partly owned by Laskgar.
GBI agents and university police and auditors raided Laskar's midtown office in May.
State authorities said the trio illegally funneled an estimated $2 million from the university to Sayana Wireless, which is co-owned by Laskgar and Pinel. At the time, Laskgar was earning $208,000 per year, according to state records.
Laskar's attorney Craig Gillen said his client and Georgia Tech were business partners. He said the school took advantage of Laskar's brilliance in the field of microchips.
"He and his team had founded a company that had perfected a chip that might well be worth millions and millions of dollars. Now, Georgia Tech had a piece of that... Apparently they wanted more," Gillen told Channel 2's Richard Belcher.
Fulton County Sheriff's Office Chris Evans Stephane Pinel IM Chris Evans, Stephane Pinel
The arrest warrant put the estimated losses to the university at approximately $2 million. The warrant lists nine specific alleged thefts, including $224,000 in September of 2008 and $248,000 in November.
WSBTV
