Microsoft ex-staffer pleads guilty to theft
A former Microsoft employee pleads guilty to falsely ordering software meant for internal use and selling it for personal profit, the third such incident since last December.
Kori Robin Brown, 31, a former administrative assistant at the company's Xbox video console and games division, ordered more than $6 million worth of Microsoft's SQL Server database software and sold it for personal gain between 1998 and 2000, according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney's office for the Western District of Washington.
Brown's fraud was initially uncovered during a crackdown on criminal theft of software at Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., headquarters late last year, a representative said.
Last month, Windows project coordinator Richard Gregg was arrested and indicted for allegedly stealing more than $17 million of software.
Microsoft hired investigators and put in updated systems to uncover violations of internal policy after Daniel Feussner, a former Microsoft manager, was fired and arrested in December 2002 for allegedly funding a lavish lifestyle by selling discounted software for personal profit. Feussner later died in a local hospital.
Brown, who was terminated by Microsoft after an internal investigation, faces up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 for mail fraud, will be sentenced on Oct. 3.
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