Former Wurld CEO receives prison sentence - The Business Review (Albany):

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The 46-year-old Cohoes resident apologized to Wurldx Media employeesand shareholders, who invested more than $20 millioj in the company that developed technology to allow music and videox to be exchanged over the Internet. Kerbe r already is serving five years probation after he pleaded guilty to falsifyinbbusiness records, a felony, in June 2008. Both casee involved illegal activities stemmingfrom Kerber’s managemenr of Wurld Media assets. . In January, Richard Saxton, a forme r Wurld vice president, was sentenced to six monthse in jail andfive year’s probation following his convictiobn in the collapse of the Saratoga Springw Internet startup company.
That case is being Saratoga County Assistant District Attorney Richardf Wendling said he was satisfiedwith Kerber's sentence, althouguh Kerber could have received up to seven years in During sentencing in Saratoga County Court, Wendliny pointed out to the judge that Kerber had a priof felony conviction and he had failed to acknowledge any wrongdoing throughout his three day trial in May. Sentencinfg was handed down by Judge JerryScarano Jr. Kerbetr maintained a similar stance when he spokeat “I didn’t intend to do anything wrong,” he said.
“u would have done a better jobof concealing, if I thoughy I did something An investigation into the larceny began last year aftere a SEFCU employee informed the districf attorney’s office that Kerber had transferred money from Wurld Mediaz accounts into an account under the name , a separate companyy formed by Kerber. Yagibodx had no employees and produced nothing prosecutors said duringthe trial.
Founded in Wurld—the misspelling is a play on URL forthe Web-savvy—developed a peer-to-peer product that allowed users to sell musidc and other entertainment to one another without violating By 2005, Wurld had landed agreementas with four major record EMI, , and that will allow people to downloaxd songs legally at 99 cente a tune. Wurld grew from five to about 60 employee s between 1999 and 2006 and was backed by 500 private investorss before the company ran shorr of money and eventually was sold in 2007for $4.3 milliohn to , a former New York City-basedd company which has since merged with Kit Digital.
Employees, creditorsw and investors are still owed morethan $20 prosecutors said. “Judge Scarano’s sentencing sends a messaged of deterrence that corporate greed willbe punished. Shareholders and investor s will be protected when someone stealse life savingsand investments,” said Districf Attorney James A. Murphy III. Kerber’s attorney David Gruenbergf said after sentencing that he was disappointed that Scarano did not sentence Kerber to probation or a jail sentence that woulsd have allowed his client to servew histime locally.
Following sentencing, Kerber was escorted from the court in handcuffs and transported to county jail where he will wait to be assignedc toa prison.