Three people, including an Oklahoma couple, have been convicted in a case involving more than $88 million in pirated business phone software licenses.
Earlier this month, an Oklahoma City federal judge sentenced Raymond Bradley Pierce, 48, of Tuttle, to four years in federal prison and forfeit $4 million.
Dusty O. Pierce, 46, also of Tuttle, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison and ordered to forfeit $4 million.
Jason M. Hines, 44, of Caldwell, New Jersey, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, plus 18 months of house arrest, and was ordered to forfeit $2 million.
The Pierces entered a plea agreement to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and Hines pleaded guilty to conspiring with the Pierces.
The three defendants agreed to pay a combined $17 million in damages.
Prosecutors charged that the Pierces conspired with Hines in a scheme to create and sell unauthorized software licenses for Avaya Direct International.
Prosecutors said ADI’s software licenses were used to unlock features in a popular phone system used by thousands of businesses around the world.
ADI’s software licensing system has since been phased out, according to court documents.
New Jersey-based Avaya Holdings Inc. is a multinational business communications company that sells a product called “IP Office,” a telephone system used by small and medium-sized businesses in the United States and around the world.
Prosecutors said Bradley Pierce was an Oklahoma City-based Avaya customer service employee who used his system administrator privileges to generate and sell tens of thousands of ADI software license keys to Hines and other customers.
Those customers then sold the software license keys to resellers and end users around the world, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Pierce used personal laptops and cell phones at Avaya workstations, wireless hotspots, prepaid phone cards and paper ledgers to facilitate his scheme and prevent his employer from detecting his activities.
Avaya does not permit the use of personal electronic devices.
Prosecutors said Pierce would hide the items in his desk, lock them away, or take them home at night.
Prosecutors allege that while he was on sick leave and not working, the defendants also stole and sold license keys for Avaya’s internal software.
The Pierces are accused of using the ill-gotten funds to buy large amounts of gold bars and other valuables.
Prosecutors said Hines, a New Jersey native, was the Pierce family’s largest client.
Prosecutors said Hines purchased millions of dollars’ worth of license keys for the stolen software and resold them to his own customers.
Prosecutors said he ran an unauthorized Avaya reseller called Direct Business Services International in New Jersey.
Prosecutors said this illegal activity prevented Avaya from profiting from stolen intellectual property and depressed the global market for Avaya-ADI software licenses because Pierce and Hines sold the licenses at prices well below wholesale price.
