Internet chief accused of £7m embezzlement

An executive at Cisco Systems, the world's leading maker of internet equipment, has been arrested and accused of embezzling more than £7m.

Robert Gordon, a vice-president of business development at Cisco in San Jose, California, is accused in an FBI affidavit of having fraudulently acquired more than 30,000 shares of stock in Internet Security Services Group.

The affidavit alleges Gordon sold those shares after transferring them into a company he started in the Bahamas.

Cisco has issued a statement saying: "We brought this situation to the attention of law enforcement authorities. We are assisting their investigation and support their prosecution efforts."