Two sibling contractors convicted a decade ago for hacking into US State Department systems have once again been charged, this time for a comically hamfisted attempt to steal and destroy government records just minutes after being fired from their contractor jobs.
The Department of Justice on Thursday said that Muneeb Akhter and Sohaib Akhter, both 34, of Alexandria, Virginia, deleted databases and documents maintained and belonging to three government agencies. The brothers were federal contractors working for an undisclosed company in Washington, DC, that provides software and services to 45 US agencies. Prosecutors said the men coordinated the crimes and began carrying them out just minutes after being fired.
Using AI to cover up an alleged crime—what could go wrong?
On February 18 at roughly 4:55 pm, the men were fired from the company, according to an indictment unsealed on Thursday. Five minutes later, they allegedly began trying to access their employer’s system and access federal government databases. By then, access to one of the brothers’ accounts had already been terminated. The other brother, however, allegedly accessed a government agency’s database stored on the employer’s server and issued commands to prevent other users from connecting or making changes to the database. Then, prosecutors said, he issued a command to delete 96 databases, many of which contained sensitive investigative files and records related to Freedom of Information Act matters.
Cameras made by Flock Safety are used to automatically capture images of license plates on passing vehicles. (Flock Safety Photo)
Cameras that automatically capture images of vehicle license plates are being turned off by police in jurisdictions across Washington state, in part after a court ruled the public has a right to access data generated by the technology.
Police in Stanwood and Sedro-Woolley turned off their cameras before the Nov. 6 ruling in Skagit County Superior Court, and Redmond, Lynnwood and Skamania County turned off their cameras after the ruling, according to a report in The Seattle Times on Tuesday.
The debate stems from the use of Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) made by Flock Safety, and whether the images and data collected by the cameras are subject to release under Washington’s Public Records Act.
According to court records and the Times, Jose Rodriguez, a tattoo artist who works in Walla Walla, filed public records requests for the ALPR photos and data of about 50 public agencies across Washington.
“The government can’t just put a tracker on us without a warrant, but these (cameras) are basically doing the same thing,” Rodriguez told the Times. He sued 10 cities, including Sedro-Woolley and Stanwood, that didn’t provide their images and data after his public records requests.
“The Flock images generated by the Flock cameras … are public records,” Judge Elizabeth Neidzwski wrote in her ruling, adding that the images are “created and used to further a governmental purpose” and were paid for and generated for the benefit of the cities fighting not to release the data.
The Redmond Police Department announced in August that it was installing automated license plate readers in strategic areas across the city. (Redmond PD Photo)
ALPR cameras are intended as a public safety tool, to automatically alert officers and analysts when a vehicle linked to a crime, missing person, stolen vehicle, or other critical incident is detected.
The cameras do not use facial recognition or random surveillance, and images and data are supposed to be deleted from Flock’s cloud-based storage system within 30 days.
Flock Safety told the Times that privacy concerns about its technology are unjustified, and that the company’s cameras take pictures of vehicles on public roads, where there is no expectation of privacy. The company said it is advocating a “legislative fix” to Washington’s Public Records Act.
Privacy advocates argue that the technology could be used for mass surveillance. Researchers at the University of Washington Center for Human Rights reported last month that 18 Washington police agencies had their Flock Safety databases searched this year by the U.S. Border Patrol. The state’s “Keep Washington Working Act” bars most state agencies from cooperating with immigration enforcement.
The Redmond Police Dept. started deploying ALPR cameras this summer but turned them off earlier this month after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested seven people, and raised concerns that ICE had accessed the city’s Flock data.
In another incident, a Redmond man was detained when police acted on an alert generated by a Flock camera. KING 5 reported that the system wrongly flagged the man’s car as being “associated” with his son, who shares his name and was wanted on a felony warrant.
The former chief financial officer of onetime Seattle e-commerce startup Fabric has been convicted of four counts of wire fraud for taking and misusing around $35 million from his former employer.
Nevin Shetty, 41, of Mercer Island, Wash., was found guilty on Nov. 7, after a nine-day jury trial, according to a news release from the United States Attorney’s office for the Western District of Washington.
“This defendant exploited his position of power and trust in an attempt to profit from his crime and then lied to cover it up,” U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd said in a statement.
Shetty joined Fabric as CFO in March 2021. The company, which moved its headquarters out of Seattle to San Francisco last year, was raising capital at the time and Shetty helped draft a policy governing how the money raised should be invested conservatively while the company worked to grow its business.
Prosecutors said Shetty diverted funds in early 2022 to his own cryptocurrency business, HighTower Treasury, without authorization. Although he helped create the company’s policy limiting investments to low-risk accounts, he secretly moved the money into high-yield decentralized finance platforms that promised 20% returns.
According to records, Shetty’s plan was to pay his employer 6% interest and keep the rest of the profits through HighTower. In the first month, he and a partner made about $133,000, but by May 2022, the crypto investments had collapsed, wiping out nearly all $35 million.
After confessing to colleagues, Shetty was fired and the company reported the theft to the FBI.
Jurors deliberated about 10 hours before reaching the guilty verdict last week. Judge Tana Lin scheduled sentencing for Feb. 11, 2026. Wire fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
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