Former Microsoft Employee Jailed, Fined for Stealing Software

   A federal judge sentenced a former Microsoft employee to 21 months in prison and fined him more than $4 million for his role in a massive theft of software from the company. Wilson I. Delancy, who worked closely with another Microsoft employee, Kori R. Brown, a former administrative assistant in the company's Xbox group, spent almost 2 years funneling software that was originally intended for charitable donations to a store in the Seattle area, where Delancy and Brown sold the software. Because Delancy's activities included rerouting software from Microsoft's Columbus, Ohio, warehouse, he was charged with mail fraud, a federal offense. Brown, who was Delancy's accomplice, was sentenced to 17 months in prison last November. Like Delancy, Brown was also convicted of mail fraud.
   Microsoft investigators discovered the scheme last year during a companywide internal-purchasing crackdown in the wake of the infamous Daniel Feussner case, in which the employee stole more than $9 million worth of Microsoft software, then sold it on the street at a steep discount. Feussner, who had been in charge of Microsoft's MSN Search efforts, committed suicide before he could be brought to trial for 15 counts of wire, mail, and computer fraud.

A federal judge sentenced a former Microsoft employee to twenty one months in prison, and fined him more than $4 million, for his role in a massive theft of software from Microsoft. Wilson I. Delancy, who worked closely with another Microsoft employee, Kori R. Brown, a former administrative assistant in the company's Xbox group, spent almost two years funneling software originally intended for charitable donations to a software store in the Seattle area, where it was sold. Because Delancy's activities included the re-routing of software from Microsoft's Columbus, Ohio warehouse, he was charged with mail fraud, a federal offense.

Microsoft investigators discovered the scheme after a company-wide internal purchasing crackdown last year in the wake of the infamous Daniel Feussner case, in which the employee stole more than $9 million worth of Microsoft software, then sold it on the street at a steep discount. Feussner was previously in charge of Microsoft's MSN Search efforts, and he committed suicide before he could be brought to trial for 15 counts of wire, mail and computer fraud.

Brown, who was Delancy's accomplice, was sentenced to 17 months in prison last November. Like Delancy, Brown was also convicted of mail fraud.