Former Comverse CEO Jacob “Kobi” Alexander leaves the court in Windhoek, Namibia on October 3, 2006. Photo: Reuters / Stringer / File.

The former chief executive officer of software company Comverse Technology Inc will be released from prison on Tuesday, a prison official said, after his sentence was cut short following his extradition from the United States.

Jacob “Kobi” Alexander, who founded the company which is based in New York, returned to the United States in 2016 after spending a decade in Namibia to avoid prosecution.

In February 2017, he was sentenced to 2-1/2 years in prison for engaging in securities fraud but earlier this month he was transferred to Israeli authorities.

A parole board decided to cut his sentence. According to the Israel Prison Service, one-third of a prison sentence may be commuted for good behavior. He pleaded guilty to securities fraud related to backdating stock options in August 2016.

Prosecutors charged that from 1998 to 2001 Alexander participated in a scheme to use hindsight to select the effective dates for granting options for employees, resulting in misleading statements to investors.

Alexander fled to Namibia with his family in 2006 amid the investigation. Charges were announced that August against him, William Sorin, Comverse’s general counsel, and David Kreinberg, its finance chief.

Sorin pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one year in prison. Kreinberg was spared prison after pleading guilty.

Alexander agreed in 2009 to pay $60 million to Comverse in connection with shareholder litigation, and to waive over $72 million in claims he had against Comverse, which was acquired by former unit Verint Systems in 2013.

He settled related civil government lawsuits in 2010, resulting in a $6 million penalty by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.