Pirated software was used to make components for military radar
systems, Blackhawk helicopters, Patriot missiles, and the President's
transport helicopter Marine One. Defense contractor Wronald Best has
been sentenced to 366 days in prison for purchasing 70 pirated
industrial design applications from Chinese and Russian sources. The
Department of Defense and Secret Service have been made aware of the
breach of security. "We have no reason to believe his use of the cracked
software affected the products in any negative way," an Assistant US
Attorney told The Associated Press.
While Best was chief scientist for a defense contractor in Kentucky, he purchased $2.3 million worth of software for just over $600,000. During 2008 and 2009, Best exchanged over 260 emails with Chinese distributor Xiang Li, who pled guilty to selling pirated software worth more than $100 million earlier this year. Li's clients also reportedly included a NASA electronics engineer who was found to have purchased $1.2 million worth of pirated software between 2008 and 2010.
Li faces up to 25 years in prison. Best, who could have been sentenced to five years, requested a more lenient sentence in part because of his diagnosed obsessive-compulsive disorder, which he claimed
compelled him to acquire the software. "Theft is not justified by intellectual curiosity," said Judge Leonard Stark.
While Best was chief scientist for a defense contractor in Kentucky, he purchased $2.3 million worth of software for just over $600,000. During 2008 and 2009, Best exchanged over 260 emails with Chinese distributor Xiang Li, who pled guilty to selling pirated software worth more than $100 million earlier this year. Li's clients also reportedly included a NASA electronics engineer who was found to have purchased $1.2 million worth of pirated software between 2008 and 2010.
Li faces up to 25 years in prison. Best, who could have been sentenced to five years, requested a more lenient sentence in part because of his diagnosed obsessive-compulsive disorder, which he claimed
compelled him to acquire the software. "Theft is not justified by intellectual curiosity," said Judge Leonard Stark.
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