AP Photo: Scott Levine, left, of Florida, the owner of the now defunct e-mail marketing contractor Snipermail.com,... |
A Florida man was convicted Friday of stealing information from data-management company Acxiom Corp. in what prosecutors said was the largest federal computer theft trial ever.
The jury convicted Scott Levine, the owner of defunct e-mail marketing contractor Snipermail.com, on 120 counts of unauthorized access to data, two counts of access device fraud and one count of obstruction of justice.
Jurors cleared Levine of 13 counts of unauthorized access of a protected computer, one conspiracy count and one count of money-laundering.
Statutory maximum sentences for his convictions total 640 years in prison and fines of $30.7 million, though his punishment likely will be much less under federal sentencing guidelines. Sentencing was set for Jan. 9. |
Prosecutors said Levine and his company stole 1.6 billion customer records — the equivalent of 550 telephone books filled with names, e-mail and postal addresses. The government did not charge anyone with identity theft.
"We're very pleased with the outcome. We think it's the appropriate verdict," U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins said outside U.S. District Court. "These are very serious crimes, a huge amount of data that was stolen for monetary gain and he should be held accountable. The jury apparently saw it that way."
Six Snipermail employees pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and testified against Levine in the case.
In the trial, Levine's lawyer, David Garvin, claimed Levine's employees were guilty of the unauthorized downloads and tried to pin them on their relatively computer-illiterate boss. |