Daniel Feussner, 32, has allegedly used MS Market, a program
allowing Microsoft employees to order software for Microsoft
business, to obtain more than 1,600 software packages. The orders
were apparently processed by a Microsoft vendor in Ohio, who
shipped the software to Feussner by express mail.
According to the FBI, Feussner was then reselling the software
below market price for cash, using a middleman. Feussner, a German
national, worked for Microsoft for less then two years. During the
alleged fraud, he set up a web site displaying his expensive
lifestyle – although the site has now been taken off-line.
His arrest follows an FBI investigation into Microsoft employees
using MS Market to commit fraud. According to the FBI, the
investigation is continuing and more arrests may follow.
Feussner has been charged with 15 counts of computer, wire and
mail fraud. He is expected to remain in custody until a preliminary
hearing at the US District Court in Seattle, scheduled for 20th
December 2002.
