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As Seen On TV trade secrets on sale for low, low price of $198K, feds say
From: Audrey McNeil <audrey () riskbasedsecurity com>
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2016 18:34:14 -0600
http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2016/10/employee_of_as_ seen_on_tv_company_tried_to_sell_tr.html FBI agents on Thursday arrested an employee of an unnamed manufacturer of "As Seen On TV" products on charges of stealing trade secrets, after what prosecutors said was a two-month-long sting operation. During the sting, Ralph Mandil, 37, of West Long Branch, offered to sell merchandise and trade secrets stolen from his employer to people he believed were employees of an unnamed competitor, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office. Those employees, prosecutors say, were actually law enforcement agents wearing recording devices. While the prosecutors did not identify Mandil's employer by name, the firm was described as manufacturing a number of personal, household and automotive products "frequently marketed via television ads" and "commonly sold at large retailers such as Walmart." Yuan Li admitted to accessing, downloading and making available for sale on Abby's website internal Sanofi database information on compounds the company says were trade secrets The range of information for sale allegedly included unreleased product names, specifications, artwork, advertising, market data and manufacturing information, according to prosecutors. Mandil was allegedly offering the information for sale at the price of $197,500, which would buy access to an online cloud storage account containing the trade secrets. In exchange for $10,000, Mandil also provided investigators with samples of the merchandise and information, which he told the undercover agents was worth "millions," the statement says. Mandil is facing charges of the theft of trade secrets and wire fraud. If convicted of wire fraud, he faces up to 20 years in prison, prosecutors say. He was scheduled to make an initial appearance Thursday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael A. Hammer in Newark, according to prosecutors.
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