Debra W. Yang
United States Attorney
Central District of California
United States Courthouse
312 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, California 90012
April 13, 2005
Thom Mrozek (213) 894-6947
Los Angeles, CA - A Northridge man was arrested this morning on federal charges of copying well-guarded competitive pricing information belonging to his former employer and then e-mailing it to the employer's competitors.
Adam Samuel Platts, 32, was arrested without incident at his home by special agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Platts, who is scheduled to make his initial court appearance this afternoon in United States District Court in Los Angeles, is charged in a criminal complaint with unlawfully possessing trade secrets and with transmitting those trade secrets to others.
According to the criminal complaint filed Monday, Platts was an employee of NMB Technologies Corporation, a leading manufacturer of keyboards and fans used with computers. Days before he was laid off in February 2004, Platts made an unauthorized download of NMB's Annual Plan, a closely guarded document that contained NMB's pricing strategy for the upcoming fiscal year. A few months later, in April 2004, Platts used public computers at Cal State Northridge to e-mail the Annual Plan to NMB's competitors. In the e-mail, Platts stated that he "[h]ope[d] this competitive information helps."
The complaint charges Platts with two offenses - possessing NMB's trade secrets without authorization and sending them to others. If convicted, Platts faces a maximum sentence of 20 years.
A complaint contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Release No. 05-057
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