Firm Computer and Delete $2.6 Million Project
Two former employees of the Santa Monica office of an international software development company were indicted today on federal charges of conspiring to enter the company’s computer systems and unlawfully delete a $2.6 million software package that was being developed for a foreign client.
Glenn Cazenave, 44, of Encino, and Amaya Marinella, 31, of Van Nuys, were named today in separate indictments that accuse both defendants of one count of conspiracy and one count of hacking into a computer system and causing damage.
The target of the scheme was Commerce One, which in 2000 had an office in Santa Monica and now is based in Pleasanton, California. Cazenave was hired to run Commerce One’s engineering department, and Amaya was an employee of the company supervised by Cazenave. While Cazenave was initially assigned to lead the multi-million dollar Memec project, he was soon taken off the project and later was terminated by the company.
After Cazenave was terminated, Amaya allegedly provided Cazenave with the administrator password for the Commerce One server where the Memec project was located so that Cazenave could delete the project file. Using the password he received from Amaya, Cazenave deleted the entire Memec project file on February 21, 2001. However, Commerce One personnel were able to retrieve the deleted information, a move which limited the company’s losses to the cost of investigating the intrusion and ensuring that the system was no longer vulnerable to such attacks.
An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Cazenave and Amaya are expected to be arraigned on the charges in late August.
If they are convicted on both charges in the indictment, each defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of 10 years in federal prison.
The cases against Cazenave and Amaya were investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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