Three people have been accused of selling more than $ 88 million in stolen software licenses from Avaya Direct International that include a telephone system product called IP Office, used by thousands of companies around the world. The FBI conducted the investigation, which led to his indictment for federal electronic fraud and money laundering charges.
3 Accused of Avaya piracy fraud
The Oklahoma Western District Grand Court indicted the following conspiracy defendants for electronic fraud and 13 charges of electronic fraud: Raymond Bradley Pearce, also known as Brad Pearce, 46, of Tuttle, Oklahoma; Dusti O. Pearce (Brad’s wife), 44, of Tuttle, Oklahoma; and Jason M. Hines, also known as Joe Brown, also known as Chad Johnson, also known as Justin Albaum, 42, of Caldwell, New Jersey. In addition, the grand jury charged both Brad Pearce and Dusti Pearce with a conspiracy charge of committing money laundering and money laundering.
This is how the three committed to the software licenses, according to the indictment:
How Avaya Software Licenses Work
To enable additional IP Office functionality, such as voicemail or more phones, customers had to purchase software licenses, which Avaya generated, from an authorized Avaya reseller or reseller. Avaya used software license keys to control access to Avaya’s copyrighted software and to ensure that only customers who paid for the software could use it.
What did Pearce’s and Hines do, according to the indictment
Brad Pearce was an Avaya customer service employee and allegedly used his system administrator privileges to generate tens of millions of dollars in ADI software license keys. Pearce sold the license keys to Hines and other customers, who in turn sold them to distributors and end users around the world. The retail value of each Avaya software license ranged from less than $ 100 to thousands of dollars.
Pearce also hijacked the accounts of former Avaya employees to generate additional ADI software license keys. He altered the account information to hide the fact that he was generating ADI license keys, preventing Avaya from uncovering the fraud scheme for many years. Brad Pearce’s wife, Dusti Pearce, is supposed to have taken care of the accounting and helped manage the financial part of the illegal business.
Hines operated Direct Business Services International (DBSI), an unauthorized distributor of Avaya, New Jersey. He allegedly bought software licenses from Pearce’s under his own name and also using an alias, Joe Brown. Hines was allegedly one of the largest users of the ADI licensing system in the world, and was Pearce’s largest customer.
The e-fraud scheme affected Avaya’s profits as well as global market prices
According to the indictment, the Pearce and Hines operation not only prevented Avaya from making money with its stolen intellectual property, but also undermined Avaya’s global ADI software licensing market because Pearces and Hines were selling licenses well below the wholesale price.
Pearce’s and Hines laundered money
In all, the Pearces and Hines allegedly collected millions of dollars from the fraud. In addition, to hide the nature and origin of the money, the Pearce allegedly channeled their illegal earnings through a fake PayPal account created under various bank accounts and then transferred the money to many other bank and investment accounts. They also allegedly bought large quantities of gold bullion and other valuables. The indictment lists numerous assets subject to confiscation, such as cash, gold, silver, collectible coins, cryptocurrency and real estate.
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