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Taiwan prosecutes HTC's ex-lead designer for fraud and leak
Earlier today, the Taipei District Prosecutor's Office concluded its investigation on the HTC saga that mainly involved ex-lead designer Thomas Chien (pictured above). The report indicts the ex-VP for leaking HTC's upcoming icon designs -- likely from the yet-to-be-released Sense 6.0 -- by way of a presentation, which was shown to his then-future business partners for a new company they were forming together. There's no mention on whether the other party was tied to the Chinese government, as previously rumored, but the meeting was known to have taken place in Beijing back in June. The investigation also confirmed that Chien's naughty crew managed to rake in NT$33,566,000 or about US$1.12 million, in the form of false expense claims plus kickbacks from a supplier. In case you forgot, about a quarter of that cash was found inside Chien's Audi, with another quarter confiscated from him separately earlier. The prosecutors said while most other perpetrators have admitted to their wrongdoings, Chien continued to defend himself and remained in denial of some of his crimes. The court is therefore advised by the report to offer a heavy sentence for the traitor's "malignant" behavior.
Owner of e-sports team charged with participation in massive hacking operation
What do League of Legends, Dota 2, and Counterstrike have in common? If you answered "all three games were played by eSports team Moscow 5," you are remarkably well-informed and also correct. And if you're that well-informed, you also probably know that the team owner, Dmitry Smilianets, was arrested a year ago as part of an investigation by the FBI. What you might not be aware of is that Smilianets has now been officially charged with taking part in a massive hacking network along with five other Russian and Ukranian nationals. According to a statement by U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, this represents the largest such case tried in the US, as Smilianets and his accomplices are charged with stealing at least 160 million debit and credit card numbers. Smilianets is in custody, as he was arrested while sightseeing in the United States, and is expected to be in federal court next week.
