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Law360 (February 4, 2021, 5:33 PM EST) -- A California federal judge delayed the bribery trial of a former Netflix Inc. executive for the third time Wednesday, citing courthouse restrictions on jury cases due to COVID-19.
Michael Kail, who prosecutors say accepted kickbacks in exchange for approving payments to prospective third-party vendors, is now set to stand trial on March 19, according to the brief order.
His trial was initially set for early March 2020, but delayed until February of this year because of a last-minute change in legal representation. It was then postponed to March 2, 2021, due to COVID-19 infection rates in the Golden State, and delayed again Wednesday.
The Northern District of California will not hold any jury trials until at least March 16. The new date for Kail's case is conditional and depends on whether the local infection rate slows down, according to the filing.
Kail, who left Netflix for Yahoo Inc. in summer 2014, was charged in May 2018, more than three years after the online streaming giant itself accused him of taking bribes from technology companies that wanted to do business with it.
Netflix sued Kail, its former vice president of information technology operations, in late 2014 in California state court. The company said it uncovered a series of emails between Kail and employees of third-party vendors that showed Kail was negotiating deals in which they would pay his consulting firm a 12% to 15% cut of what Netflix paid them for their services. Netflix and Kail settled the case privately in late 2015.
Prosecutors now say Kail received more than $500,000 from at least three outside companies and sought and received valuable stock options from other Netflix business partners.
The government's indictment mirrors much of Netflix's suit and includes charges of wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering. The government says Kail should have to give up his Los Gatos, California, property, which prosecutors say was purchased with the spoils of his alleged scheme.
Counsel for Kail and representatives for the government did not immediately respond Thursday to requests for comment.
The government is represented by Colin C. Sampson, Daniel Kaleba and Erin A. Cornell of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California.
Kail is represented by Julia Mezhinsky Jayne and Ashley Riser of the Jayne Law Group.
The case is U.S. v. Michael Kail, case number 5:18-cr-00172, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
--Editing by Alyssa Miller.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
