CHIPs Unit Established in Southern District of New York
United States Attorney Office

September 5, 2001

MARY JO WHITE, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today the formation of a Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property ("CHIPs") unit, comprised of five Assistant United States Attorneys who will specialize in computer and intellectual property crimes.

The CHIPs unit will focus on computer intrusions; Internet and computer fraud; theft of trade secrets and economic espionage; theft of computer and high tech equipment components; criminal copyright and trademark offenses; and other forms of computer, Internet, and electronic crimes. The CHIPs unit will also work closely with federal, state and local law enforcement and with industry to develop, coordinate, and implement effective strategies to combat these high tech crimes.

On July 20, 2001, Attorney General JOHN ASHCROFT announced the creation of 10 CHIPs units across the country, including one in the Southern District of New York.

In making that announcement, Attorney General ASHCROFT stated: "Everyday, the crimes that will be targeted by CHIPs units result in tremendous losses to consumers, businesses, universities and government agencies. What is more damaging, however, is the perception of lawlessness that computer crimes creates. As a result we hope to reinforce the message to would-be criminals that there are no free passes in cyberspace. Crimes will be investigated and criminals will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

In recent years, The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has been in the forefront of investigating and prosecuting cybercrime and intellectual property crimes. These include the arrest of Kazakhstan nationals in London in connection with the attempted extortion of Bloomberg, L.P.; the prosecution of computer security specialist Jesus Oquendo for computer hacking and electronic eavesdropping; the prosecution of a law firm paralegal for the electronic theft of a litigation trial plan; the prosecution of Raymond Torricelli for intruding into NASA computers; the theft of proprietary business plans belonging to MasterCard and the attempted sale of those plans to representatives of Visa; and the first prosecution of Internet sports gambling operations.

Ms. WHITE stated: "The formation of a Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Unit underscores this Office's commitment to responding vigorously to the rapid changes in computer technology and the increasing sophistication of criminals who seek to use these new technologies to victimize society. The CHIPs unit will develop a close partnership with the computer, software, and high tech community to ensure that these new forms of electronic crimes are detected, reported, investigated, and effectively prosecuted."

Assistant United States Attorneys JOSEPH V. De MARCO and ROBERT R. STRANG will be coordinating the CHIPs unit. Assistant United States Attorneys MARC A. WEINSTEIN, MARK MENDELSOHN, and ANDREW DEVORE will also be members of the unit.

• More information on:  CHIP factsheet
• More information on:  Law Enforcement Coordination for High-Tech Crimes
• More information on:  Intellectual Property Policy
• More information on:  Computer Crime Policy
• More information on:  CDCA's CHIPs Unit

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