Federal Jury Convicts Man in Computer Intrusion Case

DALLAS — Following a week-long trial before U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle, a federal jury has convicted a Spring, Texas, man, who worked as an Information Technology (IT) engineer for a Dallas-headquartered law firm, on felony offenses stemming from his unauthorized access to the firm’s computer network, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.

Anastasio N. Laoutaris, 40, was convicted on two counts of knowingly accessing a computer network without authorization and intentionally issuing commands and codes that caused damage to the network.  After the verdict, Judge Boyle remanded him into the custody of the U.S. Marshal.

Laoutaris faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine on each count.  A sentencing date was not set.

The government presented evidence at trial that Laoutaris, who was an IT engineer for Locke Lord LLP from 2006 to August 2011, accessed the firm’s computer network without authorization on December 1, 2011, and December 5, 2011, and on both occasions, issued instructions and commands that caused significant damage to the network, including deleting or disabling hundreds of user accounts, desktop and laptop accounts, and user e-mail accounts

The law firm, Locke Lord LLP, has offices throughout the U.S. and the world; its headquarters is located in Dallas.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul Yanowitch and Nick Bunch are prosecuting.

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