Three former Department of Homeland Security employees were sentenced Friday for conspiring to steal proprietary software and personal data of federal employees, according to the Department of Justice. press release.
Charles Edwards, 63, a former acting inspector general for the DHS Office of Inspector General, pleaded guilty in 2022 to “theft of government property and conspiracy to commit fraud against the United States and its citizens” and was sentenced to one year and six months in prison. received the verdict. Theft of government property. ”
In 2019, Sonal Patel, 49, a former employee of DHS-OIG’s Information Technology Division, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft of government property. Patel was recently sentenced to two years’ probation.
Murali Venkata, 58, who worked in the same unit as Patel, was sentenced to four months in prison. Venkata was found guilty by a jury in 2022 of “theft of government property and conspiracy to defraud the United States, theft of government property, wire fraud, and destruction of records,” according to a Justice Department report.Mr. Venkata was found guilty of ‘deletion’.[ing] Delivering incriminating text messages and other communications with intent to obstruct an investigation. ”
All three previously worked for the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General. According to court records, the men planned to steal proprietary software and databases containing sensitive law enforcement information and sell it to government agencies through Edwards’ Maryland-based company, Delta Business Solutions. was planning to use it to build a software product.
The men are also suspected of stealing the personal information of 200,000 federal government employees. The three shared the stolen information with a software developer based in India.
“After retiring from DHS-OIG, Edwards founded Delta Business Solutions Inc. in Maryland. From at least 2015 to 2017, he created a confidential government database containing personally identifying information for DHS and USPS employees. and stole software from DHS-OIG so that his company could develop a commercial version of the case management system that would be offered to civilians and sold to government agencies.” The Ministry of Justice explained.
Edwards’ attorneys, Jonathan Jeffress and Kaiser-Dillon, said: Reuters In 2022, his client was trying to build a better system for the government. Jeffress said Edwards “understands that it was inappropriate for him, as a civilian, to take possession of the system and the sensitive data within it” and that he “sincerely regrets his error in judgment.”
DHS-OIG and USPS-OIG investigated this incident.
DHS did not respond to requests for comment. new york post report.
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