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Microsoft scammers face prison

by on26 October 2007

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Reseller scheme illegal


Three
people convicted of scamming Microsoft Corporation out of millions of US dollars by reselling sharply discounted software have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms.

Mirza Ali, 60, and his wife, Sameena Ali, 52, as well as a partner of theirs illegally used a Microsoft reseller program to allow companies to buy Microsoft products at ridiculously slashed prices. The program was designed to sell software to educational institutions, but the trio resold the software to non-academic customers. The court sentenced the Fremont, California offenders on Wednesday to five years in prison each, and ordered them to forfeit $5 million in profits as well as to reimburse Microsoft $20 million.

Lawyers for the trio said they believed they were legally entitled to buy and resell the software in the manner in which they did. The three remain free on bail while appealing their convictions.
Last modified on 26 October 2007
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