[ISN] Segal offers $10,000 reward for info on ex-worker

From: InfoSec News (isn@private)
Date: Wed Apr 21 2004 - 04:14:23 PDT

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    http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-segal20.html
    
    BY STEVE WARMBIR AND TIM NOVAK 
    Staff Reporters  
    April 20, 2004
    
    In an unusual move, the firm of indicted insurance czar Michael Segal 
    is offering a $10,000 reward on a Web site for more information about 
    a former employee who the firm accuses of hacking into company 
    computers and sharing files with competitors and government 
    informants.
    
    Jury selection began Monday in Segal's criminal trial, but a Segal 
    spokeswoman, Kitty Kurth, said the Web site had nothing to do with the 
    criminal case. Rather, it's related to a civil lawsuit Segal has filed 
    against former employees, including the alleged hacker, David Cheley, 
    whom Segal accuses of conspiring to destroy his company, Near North 
    Insurance Brokerage.
    
    Segal is accused of siphoning more than $20 million from a key firm 
    account and spending the money on personal and business expenditures.
    
    Segal has brought up the alleged hacking and sharing of e-mails with 
    government informants in his criminal case. However, the federal judge 
    overseeing his criminal case would not grant a hearing to Segal on the 
    matter.
    
    The site, hackingreward.com [1], had been up for a few weeks, Kurth
    said.  The name was registered on March 29 this year, records show.
    The reward was offered after federal authorities told Near North that
    Cheley would not be prosecuted for any alleged hacking, Kurth said.
    
    The site offers a $10,000 reward for new information about hacking 
    into Near North's computer system. It prominently features a 
    photograph of Cheley, 33, of Chicago.
    
    It also lists a former home address of Cheley, pages from his Web site 
    that listed his qualifications as a computer programmer, as well as 
    former employers.
    
    "Boy, oh, boy," Cheley said as he looked at the Web site for the first 
    time Monday. 
    
    "Wow," he said later. "These people are something else."
    
    Cheley, who denies hacking into the Near North system, said the 
    litigation has destroyed him and sapped his savings.
    
    He said he feels like a scapegoat in the matter.
    
    "I'm not part of any conspiracy," Cheley said. "These guys have pretty 
    much finished me."
    
    [1] http://www.hackingreward.com/
    
    
    
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