A former Microsoft engineer was sentenced on Monday to nine years in prison for stealing more than $10 Million from the company after being convicted of defrauding the tech giant.



The 26-Year-old Volodymyr Kvashuk Ukrainian was an outsider tester working as a Contract for Microsoft’s Online Retail Platform before being brought in as a full-time And was involved in a system that allows users to buy things with digital gift cards and other sources before being fired in 2018.

Kvashuk started out using his own account to steal smaller amounts from Microsoft about $12,000 before graduating to stealing millions of dollars, He committed 18 felonies the Judgement made by the Jury. Five counts of wire fraud, six counts of money laundering, two counts of aggravated identity theft, two counts of filing false tax returns, and one count each of mail fraud, access device fraud, and access to a protected computer in furtherance of fraud.

The Stolen Gift Cards which he sold and then use the money to purchase a $1.6 million dollar lakefront home and a $160,000 Tesla vehicle. For seven months he transferred about $2.8 million in Bitcoin to his bank and investment accounts and then filed a fake tax return claiming the bitcoin had been gifted by a relative.

And what drew the attention of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) into an investigation conducted by Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Western Cyber Crimes Unit and the U.S. Secret Service.

“Kvashuk’s Criminal Acts Of Stealing From Microsoft, And Subsequent Filing False Tax Returns, Is The Nation’s First Bitcoin Case That Has A Tax Component To It. Simply Put, Today’s Sentencing Proves You Cannot Steal Money Via The Internet And Think That Bitcoin Is Going To Hide Your Criminal Behaviours.”

When making these thefts, He used three emails associated with other employees of Microsoft in an attempt to mask and digital evidence that traced back to him. – IRS-CI Special Agent, Ryan Korner.

“Stealing From Your Employer Is Bad Enough, But Stealing And Making It Appear That Your Colleagues Are To Blame Widens The Damage Beyond Dollars And Cents,” US Attorney Brian Moran Said.

To cover his tracks from the source of the funds, He used a Bitcoin mixer, He was ordered to pay more than $8.3 Million in restitution and may be deported following his prison term.

Source: https://hackrife.com/2020/11/11/a-26-year-old-ex-microsoft-engineer-sentence-to-nine-years-in-prison-for-stealing-about-10-million/

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