Former Cisco Accountants Plead Guilty to Wire Fraud via Unauthorized Access to Cisco Stock

The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced  that former Cisco Systems, Inc., accountants Geoffrey Osowski and Wilson Tang pled guilty today to exceeding their authorized access to the computer systems of Cisco Systems in order to illegally issue almost $8 million in Cisco stock to themselves.

Mr. Osowski, age 30, a resident of Mountain View at the time the charges were brought, and Mr. Tang, age 35, a resident of Palo Alto at the time the charges were brought, were indicted by a federal Grand Jury on April 4, 2001.  The two were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit computer and wire fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, one count of computer fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1030(a)(4), and three counts of wire fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343.

Under the plea agreement, Mr. Osowski and Mr. Tang each pled guilty to one count of computer fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1030(a)(4), agreed to the forfeiture of assets that the government had seized from the defendants (including stock already liquidated for $5,049,057, jewelry and an automobile), and agreed to pay restitution in the amount of the difference between $7,868,637 and the amount that the government will recover from the sale of the seized items.

In pleading guilty, Mr. Osowski and Mr. Tang admitted that between October 2000 and March 27, 2001, they participated together in a scheme to defraud Cisco Systems in order to obtain Cisco stock that they were not authorized to obtain.  As part of the scheme, they exceeded their authorized access to computer systems at Cisco in order to access a computer system used by the company to manage stock option disbursals, used that access to identify control numbers to track authorized stock option disbursals, created forged forms purporting to authorize disbursals of stock, faxed the forged requests to the company responsible for controlling and issuing shares of Cisco Systems stock, and directed that stock be placed in their personal brokerage accounts.

The two defendants admitted that the first time that they did this, in December 2000, they caused 97,750 shares of Cisco stock to be placed in two separate Merrill Lynch accounts, with 58,250 of the shares deposited in an account set up by Mr. Osowski and 39,500 shares deposited in an account set up by Mr. Tang. In February 2001, they caused two additional transfers of stock, in amounts of 67,500 shares and 65,300 shares, to be transferred to brokerage accounts in their names.  The total value of the Cisco stock that they took on these three occasions (at the time that they transferred the stock) was approximately $7,868,637. 

The sentencing of Mr. Osowski and Mr. Tang is scheduled for November 26, 2001 at 9 am before Judge Ronald M. Whyte in San Jose in federal court.  The maximum statutory penalty for each count in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1030(a)(4) is five years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000, plus restitution if appropriate.  However, the actual sentence will be dictated by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of factors, and will be imposed in the discretion of the Court.

The prosecution is the result of an investigation by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Joseph E. Sullivan is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who prosecuted the case with the assistance of Lauri Gomez. 

A copy of this press release and key court documents filed in the case may also be found on the U.S. Attorney's Office's website at: www.usdoj.gov/usao/can/

All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney's Office should be directed to Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew J. Jacobs at (415)436-7181 or to Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth de la Vega at (408) 535-5032.

• More information on:  Defendants' Sentences
• More information on:  Defendants' Charges
• More information on:  Computer Intrusion Cases
• More information on:  Computer Crime

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