An Indian American Ex- Intel Engineer Pleads Guilty to Theft Charges

Bangalore: Biswamohan Pani, an ex employee of Intel who stole valuable documents from the company pleaded guilty to five counts of wire fraud, in court on last Friday.

Pani, an Indian-origin, worked as an engineer in Intel’s Massachusetts office. Before leaving the company in the year 2008, he downloaded some of the most valuable design and manufacturing documents related to the chip maker's Itanium processor technology, alleges federal prosecutors in Boston.

 Pani joined Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), the chief competitor of Intel in the chip industry even before Intel came to know about the theft. He did not take help from anyone to carry out the plan and moreover there is no evidence regarding AMD’s involvement in the case, said the prosecutors.

"AMD was not accused of wrongdoing, and the FBI has stated that there is no evidence that AMD had any involvement in or awareness of Pani's alleged actions," said Drew Prairie, a spokesman for AMD, reports Reuters. Pani was fired by ADM following the charges made against him.

The value of stolen company documents is estimated to be around an amount of $200 million to $400 million, Intel mentioned in the court filings. But, the original FBI declaration stated that the information he stole ‘’was worth more than $1 billion in research and development costs.’’

"Pani planned to use this information to advance his career at AMD or elsewhere by drawing on it when the opportunity arose, whether with his employer's knowledge or not”, according to an ABC News report at the time.

Pani who faces up to 20 years of imprisonment on each count is scheduled to be sentenced in the month of August, reports Reuters.