The chief financial officer of the Mississippi company that makes the SkyCaddie global-positioning-system rangefinder for golfers was arrested for allegedly embezzling more than $2 million, according to the Madison County Herald.
Mahalingam Shrinivas was arrested after an internal investigation uncovered “financial irregularities,” according to the paper. It cited Walter Weems, an attorney representing SkyHawke Technologies LLC, as saying, “We turned those (findings) over to the local authorities.”
Shrinivas, who faces a maximum prison term of 15 years, couldn’t be contacted for comment. A receptionist at the company, based in Ridgeland, Miss., told CFO.com that he was currently “encarcerated,” and no phone listings were found for the executive.
It is still unknown how long the finance executive engaged in the alleged scheme, according to the report.
The paper said police recovered about $500,000 in suspicious items from a local hotel room where Shrinivas apparently was staying. However, the exact items were not identified.
“We have plans to seize more items,” a local detective told the paper.
Shrinivas lived in Marina del Rey, Calif., according to the paper’s account, and commuted from southern California to Mississippi, where he worked two weeks on and two weeks off. He had been with the company for about two years.
SkyCaddies, which sell for up to $400 each, have been hot items for golfers in recent years, and are high on the list of Golf magazine’s suggested gift items, for example.