Scottish Man Charged with Obstruction Of Justice

BOSTON – A Scottish man was charged yesterday in federal court in Boston with obstructing a federal investigation.     

Gavin MacPhee, 34, was charged with destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in a federal investigation. A plea hearing has not yet been scheduled by the court.  

According to charging documents, MacPhee used his access to his former employer’s webmail and information technology platform to delete an email account and other files related to an ongoing criminal investigation.  A search at the company’s corporate headquarters was executed in October 2019.  Thereafter, with full knowledge of the federal investigation and the relevance of those materials, MacPhee allegedly deleted at least one email account for an individual who had since left the company, and with whom he had a close relationship. 

The charging statute provides for a sentence of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Jason Molina, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; Michael Mikulka, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigation, New York Regional Office; and William B. Gannon, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security Service, Boston Field Office made the announcement today.  Valuable assistance was also provided by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, Fraud Detection and National Security Unit in Vermont. HSI’s Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force, a specialized investigative group comprised of various local, state and federal agencies, conducted this investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordi de Llano, Deputy Chief of Lelling’s Securities & Financial Fraud Unit, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mackenzie Queenin of Lelling’s Cybercrime Unit are prosecuting the case. 

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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