KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A former software programmer for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City admitted today to pilfering sensitive software code, a betrayal of public trust that cost the institution over a quarter of a million dollars. Hamid Reza Tahmasebi, 54, of Leawood, Kan., pleaded guilty in federal court to theft of government property, bypassing a grand jury indictment.
Tahmasebi worked as a lead programmer for the Federal Reserve from Oct. 16, 2012, to Feb. 7, 2014. According to court documents, the theft occurred during his final week on the job. Instead of leaving the proprietary code with the bank, Tahmasebi brazenly emailed it to his personal accounts and uploaded it to his private Google Drive storage.
The stolen code wasn’t just any software; it was developed by the Federal Reserve as part of its critical role as the fiscal agent for the U.S. Treasury Department. This makes the theft a direct blow to national financial security, as the code is considered proprietary and owned by the Treasury. Tahmasebi’s actions immediately triggered a full-scale security response.
The Federal Reserve wasted no time launching an “incident response” and a comprehensive code review, scrambling to assess the damage and shore up its defenses. The cost of that emergency response, including the extensive code audit, has been tallied at $246,433, a sum Tahmasebi now acknowledges he is responsible for in restitution.
Under a plea agreement reached with prosecutors, Tahmasebi will be required to pay full restitution to the Federal Reserve Bank. Both the prosecution and defense have jointly recommended a sentence of five years of probation. U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips will hand down the final sentence at a hearing scheduled for July 2015.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew P. Wolesky is prosecuting the case, with the investigation carried out by the FBI. The case serves as a stark reminder that even those entrusted with sensitive data are capable of exploiting their positions for personal gain, and that federal agencies will pursue those who compromise national security.
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Key Facts
- State: Missouri
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Cybercrime|White Collar Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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