There are a lot of expensive things out there, but information can be one of the priciest. If you were going to rob Intel, one way to go about it would be to try and make off with bags full of chips, or you could be like ex-Intel engineer Biswamohan Pani and take some documents worth somewhere between 200 and 400 million dollars. Why? To advance his career at AMD. But for documents worth that much, Pani will get nothing but some jail time.
Pani, who worked at an Intel chip plant in Hudson, Massachusetts, left the company on June 11, 2008. For whatever reason, accidental or maliciously planned, there were a few days of overlap during which Pani was working at his new job at AMD, while still having access to sensitive Intel documents, the kind of documents that can be worth millions of dollars. That being the case, Pani took the opportunity to snag as many documents as possible, racking up a value that has been determined to be somewhere between $200 million and $400 million.
Fortunately, no one got hurt. Well, except for Pani. Intel was able to detect and report the theft quickly, ultimately leading to recovery by the FBI. When alerted of the situation, AMD offered their full cooperation as well, and there is no evidence to suggest the company had any idea what Pani was doing in hopes of furthering his career. Pani, on the other hand, will not be coming out unscathed, and after his recent admission of the theft, faces up to 20 years in prison for each of the five fraud counts levied against him when he is sentenced this August. Let Pani stand as a lesson to all of you: Corporate espionage is dangerous. Leave that to the corporations. If you go at it alone, you’re going to get hurt.
(via TG Daily)
