A former CEO of Comverse Technology Inc., Jacob “Kobi” Alexander, has been named as a fugitive after he failed to make a court appearance last week in a stock options fraud case, federal officials said.

Mr. Alexander, 54, and a former Comverse CFO, David Kreinberg, and general counsel, William Sorin, were charged on August 9 with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud. A complaint unsealed last week by the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn claims the three backdated the company’s stock options and operated a secret stock options slush fund to reward favored employees.

After Mr. Alexander failed to appear in court, the FBI issued a warrant for his arrest. “This is a very substantial fraud scheme,” a spokeswoman for the FBI, Christine Monaco, said yesterday. Given Mr. Alexander’s dual American-Israeli citizenship, Ms. Monaco confirmed that officials enlisted the help of international law enforcement and Interpol last month. “This could be a situation where he traveled outside the United States, but we don’t know,” she said.

All three defendants resigned from the Long Island-based company on May 1 after the company launched an internal investigation of its stock option grants following criminal allegations.

Between 1998 and 2002, prosecutors believe the defendants backdated stock options and earned millions of dollars. Mr. Alexander alone allegedly took more than 300,000 backdated options, earning $11 million, according to the complaint.