Legal News

?For Your Eyes Only?: Former HP?er Cops Plea to Passing Trade Secrets

By Dan Slater

Put this one in the category of “smoking gun e-mails.” Prosecutors allege that, in 2006, Atul Malhotra, a former IBM exec, sent an email to a Hewlett-Packard VP with the subject heading “for your eyes only.” Attached was a file containing IBM trade secrets. Two days later, Malhotra, 42, sent a similar email to another H-P vice president.

On Friday, Malhoutra, who’s now also an HP alum, pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets. He faces a max of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. A sentencing hearing is set for Oct. 29. Here’s the WSJ report.

John Vandevelde, Malhotra’s attorney, called his client “an honorable man with an impeccable record” who “made one mistake in transitioning from one high-tech job to another.” Vandevelde said that “the court will be able to consider probation in this matter,” rather than jail time. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in San Fran declined to say what penalties prosecutors would seek.

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Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on July 14, 2008 (boomark / email).