Entire Case Involves over $6 Million in Stolen Servers, Routers, and Other Components
Another Defendant Sentenced to 30 Months Imprisonment; Forfeiture of
Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars and a Cadillac Escalade
SAN JOSE – 24 August – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California announced that a fourth individual, Travis Toole, pleaded guilty late yesterday in a conspiracy involving the laundering of several million dollars generated from sales of stolen Cisco and Sun Microsystems computer equipment. In the same case, another individual, Yan Ebyam, was sentenced to 30 months in prison late yesterday.
Guilty Plea:
Travis Toole, 32, of Fremont, California, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit money laundering before United States District Judge James Ware. According to the plea agreement, between approximately August and October 2003, Toole participated in a conspiracy to launder proceeds from the sales of computer equipment shipped interstate with Yan Ebyarm, Jesse Soria, Anthony Daniel, and others. Toole admitted the value of the stolen equipment during his participation was approximately $1.5 million and that the proceeds generated from the sale of this stolen equipment was approximately $555,000 dollars.
Toole’s sentencing is set for February 13, 2006, at 1:30 p.m. before Judge Ware. Toole faces a maximum prison sentence of twenty years, a maximum fine of $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved in the transaction, whichever is greater; a five year term of supervised release and a mandatory special assessment of $100. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
30 Month Sentence:
Also late yesterday afternoon, Yan Ebyam, 28, of Hillsborough, California, the first defendant to be sentenced in the case, was sentenced to a term of 30 months in prison by Judge Ware for his role in the conspiracy. According to the plea agreement, Ebyam conspired to launder the proceeds from the sale of stolen Cisco routers and Sun Microsystems servers from September to December 2003. Ebyam admitting purchasing computer equipment valued in excess of $6 million. Ebyam had already served approximately 18 months of the sentence and the court ordered that he serve the remaining term of one year and one day. In Ebyam’s case, the court ordered that Ebyam’s interest was forfeited in the following properties: (1) $370,923.10 in funds seized from a bank account; (2) $110,000 in United States currency seized by federal seizure warrant on January 15, 2004; and (3) a 2003 Cadillac Escalade, registered to Yan Ebyam and another individual. The final forfeiture proceedings are pending.
Other Defendants:
Two other defendants previously pleaded guilty to similar charges and are awaiting sentencing. Anthony Daniel, 35, of Fremont, California pleaded guilty on December 13, 2003, to one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h). He admitted that the value of the launder funds exceeded one million dollars. Jesse Soria, 32, of Fremont, California, also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft from interstate shipment, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, and theft from interstate shipment, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 659. He admitted that the value of the stolen computer equipment was more than $6.4 million. The sentencing for Soria and Daniel are presently set for October 3, 2005, at 1:30 p.m. before Judge Ware.
The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the REACT Task Force in San Jose, and the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIP) Unit of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark L. Krotoski is prosecuting the cases. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Hinds assisted on the forfeiture proceedings.
Further Information:
A copy of this press release and related court filings may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can .
Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at (click on the link for “to retrieve documents from the court”).
Judges’ calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court’s website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher P. Sonderby, Chief of the CHIP Unit, at (408) 535-5037, or Luke Macaulay at (415) 436-6757 or by email at Luke.Macaulay3@usdoj.gov.
