14 DAY TRIAL // A 43-year-old former Akamai employee pleaded guilty yesterday to foreign economic espionage charges after he was caught attempting to sell company data to a man he believed to be an Israeli spy.
Elliot Doxer, 42, of Brookline, MA, worked in Akamai's finance department where he had access to customer information, contracts and invoices. In June 2006 the man sent an email to the Israeli consulate offering to leak some of the data he had access to.
The Israeli consulate alerted the authorities and agreed to cooperate with the investigation. Doxer was arrested after he handed over Akamai corporate secrets to an undercover FBI agent he believed to be a foreign intelligence officer.
The sting lasted from September 2007, when Doxer was given a drop zone, until March 2009. According to the prosecutors, during this period, Doxer visited the site to leave data or check for communications on 62 separate ocassions.
"Economic espionage poses a tremendous risk, not only to corporate America, but to the safety and well being of our nation’s security," said United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz.
"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," she added.
The information leaked by Doxer included a list of Akamai’s customers; contracts between the company and its customers, services and pricing, and a list of Akamai employees that included their position within the company and contact information.
To get his guilty plea prosecutors dropped a charge of wire fraud. Doxer, who identifies himself as a Jewish American, faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, a three-year term of supervised release and a $500,000 fine.