A 33 year-old Chinese man pleaded guilty in U.S. Federal Court to stealing proprietary source code used by the U.S. Federal Reserve to help track billions of dollars in government transfers that occur daily, according to a report by Reuters.
Bo (a.k.a. “Bryan”) Zhang was employed as a contract worker for an IT project on behalf of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York when he copied source code for U.S. Treasury Department software known as the Government-wide Accounting and Reporting Program, according to Reuters’ report.
The software, which cost the government around $9.5million to develop, is used to give Federal agencies a running blanace of their accounts. Zhang admitted to taking the software for what he termed “personal use.”
In a two-count indictment filed on May 16, prosecutors alleges that Zhang additionally committed immigration fraud, lying on behalf of others visa applications to come into the country.
According to Reuters, Zhange pleaded guilty to both counts as part of a cooperation agreement, with federal prosecutors set to recommend a reduced 1.5 year sentence when he is sentenced on October 1. Zhang is currently free on $200,000 bail, Reuters reports.
