A fugitive millionaire from Long Island accused of orchestrating $200 million fraud says he is the one who is owed an apology, not his investors.
Tomo Razmilovic, the indicted former CEO of Symbol Technologies, said he ran away to Sweden because he does not believe he would not get a fair trial in New York.
“I wish that someone sensible would step up and say, would tell me they are sorry for all that I’ve been through,” Razmilovic told a producer working for NBC 4 New York and CNBC last month, standing at the front door of his oceanfront villa along the Swedish coast. “No one has been convicted of anything, everyone has been freed. My CFO, my sales manager, everybody.”
But federal prosecutors point out four Symbol Technology executives have pleaded guilty, and seven settled civil fraud charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Several pointed the finger at Razmilovic, saying he orchestrated the fraud.
A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch declined to comment on Razmilovic’s claim.
In 2004, NBC 4 New York first found the fugitive living in Sweden after reports surfaced he had fled to London and Croatia.
Executives at Symbol cooked the books to try to keep up the stock price, investigators said, and Razmilovic was allegedly cashing out his shares as the company faked sales numbers to Wall Street and the investing public.
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“They did a dance to get those numbers. They would go through a whole list of accounting wrongdoings or shenanigans in order to get that proper number,” said SEC attorney Todd Brody.
Symbol, based in Holtsville, was acquired by Motorola after many workers lost their jobs due to the fraud.
Swedish officials said Razmilovic has citizenship in that country. Under laws there, accused white collar crooks can only be extradited to a European Union nation, not the United States.
From his sprawling estate with expensive cars and boats, Razmilovic said he has no intention of ever returning to the U.S. to fight the criminal charges.
“Just look at the facts. Not the American version of the story, but the facts," he told the producer.
Razmilovic declined to do a full sitdown interview to explain what he believes the facts will show.
