BOSTON—A Brookline man has agreed to plead guilty to foreign economic espionage for providing trade secrets over an 18-month period to an undercover agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer. This is the first prosecution in Massachusetts for foreign economic espionage and only the eighth in the nation.
ELLIOT DOXER, 42, a former Akamai Technologies, Inc. employee, was charged in an information and has agreed to plead guilty to foreign economic espionage for providing Akamai trade secrets to an undercover agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer. The plea hearing is scheduled for August 29 at 3:15 p.m.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz said, “Economic espionage poses a tremendous risk, not only to corporate America, but to the safety and well being of our nation’s security. I want to thank Akamai Technologies, Inc. for their outstanding cooperation in this matter, which played an important role in assisting law enforcement with bringing Mr. Doxer to justice.”
“The Boston area is a worldwide leader of innovative technology and research. Preventing those intent on stealing trade secrets and American technology from local industry leaders, regardless of their motivation, is a high priority for the FBI,” said Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Boston. “Mr. Doxer’s criminal actions are an affront to the dedicated workers in the thriving technology industry. The arrest of Mr. Doxer is a significant achievement by the FBI and the USAO, District of Massachusetts, to thwart Mr. Doxer’s goal of attempting to deprive Akamai Technologies of valuable business technology and confidential business information.”
The parties have stipulated in an agreed statement of facts that on June 22, 2006, DOXER sent an e-mail to the Israeli consulate in Boston stating that he worked in Akamai’s finance department and was willing to provide any information that might help Israel. In later communications, DOXER said that his chief desire “was to help our homeland and our war against our enemies.” He also asked for payment in light of the risks he was taking.
In September 2007, an FBI agent posing as an undercover Israeli intelligence officer spoke to DOXER and established a “dead drop” where the agent and DOXER could exchange written communications. From September 2007 through March 2009, DOXER visited the dead drop at least 62 times to leave information, retrieve communications, or check for new communications.
Included in the trade secret information that DOXER provided the undercover agent were an extensive list of Akamai’s customers; contracts between Akamai and various customers revealing contact, services, pricing, and termination date information; and a comprehensive list of Akamai’s employees that revealed their positions and full contact information. DOXER also broadly described Akamai’s physical and computer security systems and stated that he could travel to the foreign country and could support special and sensitive operations in his local area if needed.
We also acknowledge the government of Israel for their cooperation in this investigation, and underscore that the information does not allege that the government of Israel or anyone acting on its behalf committed any offense under U.S. laws in this case.
DOXER was arrested on October 6, 2010, on a complaint charging him with wire fraud.
That charge will be dismissed as part of the plea agreement. The charge of foreign economic espionage carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, a three-year term of supervised release and a $500,000 fine.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys William D. Weinreb and Scott Garland respectively in Ortiz’s Antiterrorism and National Security Unit and Cybercrimes Unit, and trial attorneys Kathleen Kedian and David Recker of the Department of Justices’ Counterespionage Section. Akamai Technologies cooperated fully in the investigation.
The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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