Orlando Pair Sentenced For Copyright Infringement Of Microsoft Products And Conspiracy To Commit Wire Fraud

Orlando, Florida – U.S. District Judge Paul G. Byron has sentenced Robert F. Stout (51) and Kasey N. Riley, a/k/a Kasey Stout (33), to 18 months’ imprisonment and 12 months of home detention, respectively, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and copyright infringement relating to the sale of illegal activation keys for Microsoft products. As a part of their sentences, the Court also ordered them to pay $1,480,227, the proceeds of the charged criminal conduct.

Stout and Riley pleaded guilty on August 8, 2017.

According to court documents, Stout and Riley advertised Microsoft software products for sale online, using a variety of sham business names. They purchased unauthorized activation keys from various websites and then provided them, in exchange for PayPal payments, to at least 13,000 customers throughout the United States. They received at least $1.4 million from customers in exchange for the unauthorized, and often invalid, activation keys. Even after receiving customer complaints that specific activation keys were not functioning properly, Stout and Riley continued to sell them. For example, between September 2013 and June 2014, they sold one specific activation key approximately 880 times. 

“This investigation involved years of hard work by HSI special agents and our partners at the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” said HSI Tampa Special Agent in Charge James C. Spero. “We have stopped these criminals from using intellectual property for their own illegal profit.”

The Better Business Bureau received at least 140 complaints from customers who had purchased the unauthorized software from the sham businesses. Over the course of two years, Stout and Riley also received - and ignored - at least four warnings from Microsoft to cease in their practices. 

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Christina R. Downes, on assignment from the Office of Principal Legal Advisor (ICE) in the Middle District of Florida, and Assistant United States Attorney Wayne A. Myers from the Northern District of New York.