Optical fiber. Photo: Wikimedia

The former CEO of Alaska fiber optics company Quintillion Networks was arrested and charged with defrauding two New York investment firms out of $250 million, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York announced Thursday.

“To realize her plan to build a fiber optic system that would service Alaska and connect it to the lower 48 states, Elizabeth Ann Pierce allegedly convinced two investment companies that she had secured signed contracts that would supposedly generate hundreds of millions of dollars in guaranteed future revenue from the system,” U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a statement.

According to prosecutors, between May 2015 and July 2017, Pierce perpetuated a scheme against the two unnamed investment firms—a Manhattan private equity firm and a subsidiary of a French corporate and investment bank. To convince the firms to invest, prosecutors say Pierce presented forged contracts with two telecommunication companies.