Mayra Trujilo-Cohen
was terminated as a consultant for ICS, Deloitte & Touche. As a
parting present, she helped herself to two software programs – “4FRONT
for SAP” and “FASTRACK for SAP” – proprietary SAP
Implementation Methodology, considered to be intellectual property,
from her employer. SAP, an industry term for Systems Applications and
Products, is a software package that provides financial solutions for
small to medium-sized businesses.
After downloading the
property to her personal laptop computer, she deleted the portions of the
program that carried any reference to Deloitte & Touche and then
attempted to convey that methodology as her own creation and market it to
businesses. How valuable is this software? In her first and only attempted
sale she asked for -- and
fully expected to receive – $7 million.
While she was in a
larcenous frame of mind, Trujillo-Cohen developed a scheme whereby she was
able to use an insurance company’s bank account to pay her American
Express credit card bill through wire transfers. She transferred
approximately $436,000.00 from the insurance company’s bank account to
her American Express account over a period of several months.
She used the money to purchase such big ticket items as a Rover
Sport Utility Vehicle, several Rolex watches, some furniture and jewelry.
She pled guilty to
theft of trade secrets and wire fraud and was sentenced in October 1998 to
48 months in prison, three years of suspended release, and $337,000 in
restitution.[i]
[i] Department of Justice
sources and website; Carr, Chris; Morton, Jack; Furniss, Jerry, The
Economic Espionage Act: Bear Trap or Mousetrap, The Texas
Intellectual Property Law Journal, Vol. 8, No. 2, Winter 2000, p. 185;
and interview with FBI personnel.
© Copyright 2002 by Steven
Fink, All Rights Reserved. The text of this publication, or any part
thereof, may not be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written
permission from the publisher or author.
Excerpt from the
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