Indian origin CEO broke
By Pulkit Sharma

On paper, Minecode is a Washington based company that develops software packages and websites that has successfully completed a number of projects for small and medium sized Government agencies and business. But a large chunk of Minecode work is done at their offices at 813, Phase 5, Udyog Vihar, Gurgaon, India. In 2009, Minecode has pleaded guilty of hacking a client’s site.

In a clash with an American client, Minecode used some dirty tactics more at place in the backstreets of India rather than USA.   Minecode CEO, Pradyumna Samal who ordered the hacking and Project Manager, Sandeep Verma who pulled the trigger were both fined. Pradyumna was sentenced to 3 months home jail while his junior Sandeep Verma who was only following orders was given probation.

As soon as the sentences were announced in May, 2009, things went downhill for the company.  After all, who wants to deal with a company accused of hacking?

Now an update. Techflash reported on Feb 15, 2010

“
The troubles keep piling up for Minecode, the Bellevue web development company that got into legal hot water last year. Last month, we reported that a landlord in Portland, Ore. is suing the firm for breach of contract for allegedly skipping out on an office lease. Now it's emerged that Minecode CEO Pradyumna Samal has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. An attorney for Samal says both Minecode and its agency Saltmine have closed down.

Samal lists assets of $930,366 and liabilities of $13.6 million, and has an estimated 50 to 99 creditors, according to a Jan. 26 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Washington. The list of unsecured creditors includes Bank of America, Source Forge, and T-Mobile.
“

(Techgoss had published the following story on May 1, 2009)

Indian origin CEO: home jail for hacking
By Pulkit Sharma

On paper, Minecode is a Washington based company that develops software packages and websites that has successfully completed a number of projects for small and medium sized Government agencies and business. But a large chunk of Minecode work is done at their offices at 813, Phase 5, Udyog Vihar, Gurgaon, India. Minecode has pleaded guilty to hacking a client’s site.

In a clash with an American client, Minecode used some dirty tactics more at place in the backstreets of India rather than USA.  And the Minecode CEO, Pradyumna Samal, and Project Manager, Sandeep Verma, are now paying the price.

It all started in 2006 when US-based Wine supplier Vinado hired Minecode to develop a virtual gift shop for their portal.  Soon,  there were clashes between Vinado and Minecode on the quality of work and payments.   For some reason best known to Minecode CEO Samal, he directed his Project Manager, Sandeep Verma, to hack into their client’s site and remove two programs to cripple the virtual gift shop. Vinado fixed this and moved on.  In Jan, 2007,  Samal and Verma deleted the entire website, mail server and database causing losses of more than $100,000.

An FBI  investigation soon tracked them down.  To their credit,  they soon confessed to their crimes and pleaded to Computer Intrusion.  By all accounts, Verma was just following orders. Employees on H1B visas are susceptible to all kinds of pressures from their bosses.

On April 30, 2009, a US Judge ordered Project Manager Sandeep Verma to pay a $2500 fine and was put on probation for one year.

Sandeep Verma is on an H1B Visa and so most probably will not be able to renew it next year.

Techflash is reporting that the Minecode CEO Samal was given 90 days of home confinement with electronic monitoring and 3 years probation.

Samal, who is worth $24 million, was ordered to pay a fine of $144,000 and restitution of $120,000 (which may be increased in upcoming court hearings).  According to Techflash, Samal was also instructed to complete 288 hours of community service and "moral reconation therapy."