back to article Expedia support tech raided his CFO to rack up insider trades

Former Expedia worker Jonathan Ly has admitted to hacking his own chief financial officer and investor relations head to commit US$331,000 in insider stock-trading. Ly, 28, of San Francisco, pleaded guilty to securities fraud in a Seattle District Court and faces up to 25 years prison and a US$375,907 settlement including some …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    25 years seems a bit steep

    OK. He was a naughty boy, but nobody was hurt. It looks like he won't profit from his dodgy deeds, so effectively putting him away for life seems totally disproportionate.

    I know it says up to 25 years, so hopefully the judge will actually use some judgement and not totally wreck the guys life by imposing the maximum sentence.

    1. Mark 85

      Re: 25 years seems a bit steep

      Well, he did say he was sorry and learned his lesson... maybe we should just let him off on that?

    2. Sampler
      Joke

      Re: 25 years seems a bit steep

      Nobody was hurt? But, what about the money? What about the money AC? Remember, it's only fair when the banks do it, not us!

    3. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

      Re: 25 years seems a bit steep

      It does indeed... I mean it's not like he was streaming movies or music.

    4. Dave Harvey

      Re: 25 years seems a bit steep

      Perhaps he could get less by showing just how good an aspiring "athlete" he is, and for further reduction he could always trying groping an unconscious girl - you know, the sort of behaviour which would show that he needs clemency and help rather than incarceration.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        He won't serve 25 years

        The phrase "he faces up to 25 years" just indicates the class of felony he was charged with (which depends on the amount of money involved) and doesn't mean they'll sentence him anything like that long. He'll probably get a few years, and get probation in a year.

        His real problem will be the difficulty of getting a job once he gets out, since he'll have the felony on his record. After a while you can apply to have it expunged, but meanwhile he'll have years where he won't be hired for anything involving computers or money.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    25 years is steep especially when you consider that:

    ~ Corporations rip off consumers all the time and yet no one goes to jail.

    ~ So maybe he should have shielded himself as part of Wall Street or a Telco etc?

    ~ Funny how corporations have been lobbying for years to be given the same rights as people, yet no in this other crime story today will be going to jail anytime soon.

    ~ AT&T can argue they were just a MITM who took a cut, but who are they kidding!

    ~ The key learning point here is: The Expedia guy wasn't a Fortune 500 company....

    =======================================

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/09/att_settlement/

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: 25 years is steep especially when you consider that:

      100% correct, sir!

      If he had raped a sleeping party goer, he would be getting out in May 2017. Good work, Justice System! Makes me so proud that I am going to hack the motherfucking living shit out of you too...

      But I digress.

      Have a nice day!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: 25 years is steep especially when you consider that:

        "I am going to hack the motherfucking living shit out of you too..."

        Dillon the Hacker? Is that you?

  3. lglethal Silver badge
    Trollface

    But he's learned his lesson...

    Yep next time he will take more care not to get caught!

  4. Your alien overlord - fear me

    $330,000, carefully invested for 25 years, will make it worthwhile. Just saying...

    1. Kurt Meyer

      Careful investment

      @ Your alien overlord - fear me

      The $375,000 fine may take some of the sheen off of your available investment fund.

  5. tfewster

    Curious

    How does someone on a workers salary make $331K from insider trading on a relatively small and relatively stable stock? Unless he started with $10M to play with? Oh well, if I was smart, I might be rich too.

    However, Expedias troubles are just starting - the SEC/SOX auditors are going to rip them apart for not securing their financial reporting systems and managing privileged access properly.

    Plus more pain for sysadmins and infosec people worldwide, as the trust in sysadmins is further eroded.

    1. Mutton Jeff

      Re: Curious

      Highly leveraged spread bets, probably.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Curious

        Indeed. Some sort of high odds binary trading.

        Ala binary.com perhaps.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Curious

      The optimistic side of me likes to think that this doesnt erode trust in sysadmins and simply highlights the fact that many sysadmins arent paid what they are worth.

      Ive never felt fairly rewarded in IT...considering the heavy responsibility it entails.

      When you're in the business of providing, supporting and recovering critical infrastructure you kinda expect a proper reward. Not greedy amounts, just fair.

      £80k a year would suit me.

      Other people in the business may be responsible for bringing home the bacon but the bacon cant be brought back if there is no home to bring it to.

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