Former Intel employee pleads guilty to stealing

In the latest example of crime not paying, a former Intel employee named Biswamohan Pani pleaded guilty this week on five charges of fraud stemming from his theft of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of design documents from the chipmaker. According to Bloomberg, Pani gave Intel his two weeks’ notice on May 29, 2008, and he retained his employee access to Intel data until June 11; however, he started at AMD on June 2. During that overlap, Pani helped himself to documents that Intel valued at $200-$400 million, presumably to further his career at AMD. Intel discovered and reported the theft quickly, and to AMD’s credit, the company apparently was not aware of Pani’s activities and fully cooperated with authorities in the investigation. Pani, 36, worked at Intel’s facility in Hudson, Massachusetts and was arrested in 2008. His sentencing is scheduled for August 8, where he’s looking at potentially 20 years in jail for each of the five counts against him.