CLEVELAND (KXXV) — A federal jury in Cleveland has convicted Davis Lu, a 55-year-old man from Houston, for writing and deploying malicious code on his former employer’s network.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Lu, who was employed as a software developer for the victim company headquartered in Beachwood, Ohio, from November 2007 to October 2019, used his position to install the malicious code. This act caused significant disruption to the company's operations and compromised the security of its network.
During the trial, the prosecution presented evidence that Lu intentionally targeted the company’s network with the malicious software after leaving the organization in an effort to damage or disrupt its operations.
The jury convicted Lu of causing intentional damage to protected computers, for which he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. A sentencing date has not been set. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The FBI Cleveland Field Office investigated the case.
Senior Counsel Candina S. Heath of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel J. Riedl and Brian S. Deckert for the Northern District of Ohio are prosecuting the case.
