A federal jury convicted former Korn/Ferry Int. executive recruiter David Nosal on all six counts Wednesday in a conspiracy to steal trade secrets from his employer in order to set up his own recruiting firm.
Nosal, 55, of Danville, Calif., was accused of conspiring with two other employees in 2005 to gain access to the executive search firm’s files for large numbers of targeted job candidates developed by Korn/Ferry.
Jurors deliberated just two days before returning a verdict of guilty on charges he violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
Even before the trial got started, Nosal’s case had already been to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which issued an 11-judge en banc opinion that forced the government to drop six counts of computer hacking.
Prosecutors convinced jurors that Nosal colluded with two other Korn/Ferry employees to get them to sneak into the firm’s database and download source files.
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen set September 4 for sentencing. Nosal remained free on bond pending his sentencing.
He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a tine of $250,000 under the statutory maximum, although he is likely to receive less time based on sentencing guideline recommendations.
Case: U.S. v. Nosal, No. CR08-237EMC
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