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.