MOHSEN: A HIT ON THE JUDGE?;
Peter Burrows Edited by Ira Sager. Business Week. New York: Aug 9, 2004., Iss. 3895; pg. 8

How quickly a life can unravel. A year ago, Amr Mohsen was a respected Silicon Valley executive living in a Los Gatos (Calif.) mansion. Now he's in jail -- and accused of taking a hit out on a judge.

Mohsen's woes started in 1998, when the then-CEO of software company Aptix allegedly tried to doctor documents to win a civil patent suit, later dismissed. But during the trial he allegedly committed perjury, which he denies. Federal District Judge William Alsup referred the case to the Feds. Alsup then decided to hear the resulting criminal case, over Mohsen's objections. In March, Mohsen tried to flee the country but was arrested (BW -- Apr. 19).

He has been in jail since, but may have found ways to dig his hole even deeper. According to an FBI affidavit, even though he was warned his calls would be recorded, Mohsen called his daughter -- a psychology student -- to find out what constitutes insanity, just before claiming he was incompetent to stand trial. In May, the affidavit says, Mohsen asked an inmate to make threatening calls to five witnesses and to hire someone to burn down another one's home. Days later, as a video camera rolled, he asked the inmate to have Alsup killed. Told it would cost $25,000, he said: "That's very high...I heard it's more like $10,000." Mohsen's lawyer did not return calls.