Former Intel engineer sentenced to prison, fined for stealing and sharing trade secrets with Microsoft
An engineer working formerly with Intel has been accused of copying confidential information from the company's system and using it in favour of his new employer, Microsoft. After his doings came to light, Microsoft fired him. He has been sentenced to 2 years of prison and fined USD 34,000.
New Delhi: A former Intel engineer who stole trade secrets from his company and shared it with Microsoft, has been sentenced to 2 years of prison and asked to pay a fine of USD 34,000, said a report quoted by the Times of India. Varun Gupta worked as a product marketing engineer for Intel in the US for nearly a decade.
Gupta copied confidential files from Intel system: Assistant US Attorney
According to reports, his new employer Microsoft fired him after his crime came to light. The Assistant US Attorney William Narus, said that Gupta copied thousands of confidential files from his Intel computer into a portable hard drive before he left the company in 2020.
The man then repeatedly "accessed these documents" and used them in favour of Microsoft, during deal negotiations with Intel. These files were used specifically during a deal negotiation regarding computer processors, between Microsoft and Intel.
Narus in a sentencing memo said, "Not only did the defendant take proprietary materials with him, he also used those materials during negotiations against his prior employer." One of the documents the engineer shared showed Intel's pricing strategy with another major customer.
Sentencing memo for engineer
In his sentencing memo in front of the court, Attorney Narus demanded an 8-month sentence in order to deter such behaviour in future from people working in the industry. He described the IT industry as one which sees high employee turnover and therefore there was a need for stricter checks.
Gupta's Defence Attorney on the other hand prayed for a lighter sentencing. He said that his client had already suffered a significant and lasting punishment. He said that not only had Gupta lost the high level position at Microsoft, which he worked years to achieve but he also settled a civil lawsuit with Intel for USD 40,000.
The lawyer further claimed that Gupta experienced a permanently damaged reputation that ended his career in the tech sector.
Gupta on his part apologised in court to both Intel and Microsoft. He also offered an apology to the government for the resources spent because of his bad decision.
The man has now moved with his family to France and is studying vineyard management. He talked about the struggles of starting afresh in a new country.