Federal Criminal Investigation

overview

Burns successfully defended a middle-market company serving the Northeast region, and the company’s owners and officers in both a federal criminal investigation and parallel federal civil litigation initiated by the company’s competitor in the District of New Hampshire. The allegations against the company concerned its employees hacking into a competitor’s protected computer system and violating the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, theft of confidential and proprietary business information, and unfair competition. Burns was able to get the federal criminal matter resolved against the company by a plea agreement, with a sentence of probation and small fine of $12,000. No individuals were charged in the case, and litigation was settled favorably with the company’s competitor. Burns also represented the company in related state criminal investigations in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, both of which terminated without charges.