Trade Secret Theft Case Nets 5-Year Prison Term for North Texas Exec

DALLAS - Sept. 11, 2013 - PRLog -- DALLAS – A civil trade secret theft case initiated by Dallas attorney Matthew Yarbrough has resulted in a five-year federal prison term for a former North Texas CEO following his conviction for computer hacking.

Michael Musacchio, 62, was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison on Sept. 5 by U.S. District Court Judge Jorge A. Solis of Dallas. Mr. Musacchio was convicted of hacking the computer system maintained by his former employer, Exel Transportation Services, and using related trade secrets at a new company, Total Transportation Services LLC of Frisco.

The criminal case was based on a trade secret theft lawsuit filed in 2006 by Mr. Yarbrough, founder of Dallas-based Yarbrough Law Group. That case yielded a $10 million settlement against Total Transportation Services.

“If we hadn’t filed the civil case, there probably wouldn’t have been a criminal case,” says Mr. Yarbrough. “It took more than seven years for Mr. Musacchio to be brought to justice in criminal court. That’s why companies need to move as quickly as possible to take civil legal action against those who steal company trade secrets and intellectual property.”

Mr. Yarbrough says Mr. Musacchio’s prison sentence is part of a federal initiative to protect U.S. businesses’ trade secrets and innovations, which President Barack Obama recently declared to be “essential to our prosperity.”

“A company’s greatest asset isn't the tangible widgets in its warehouse, but the data in its network," says Mr. Yarbrough, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney and former head of the Department of Justice’s Cybercrimes and Criminal Intellectual Property Task Force.

“I’m encouraging business leaders to be on the front end of this issue,” Yarbrough told the Dallas Business Journal. “Doing that up front helps you put together a strategic response plan, and that will help them prevent the theft of valuable trade secrets.”

Yarbrough Law Group is a Dallas-based firm that represents businesses and individuals in business litigation, labor and employment matters, intellectual property, white collar criminal defense, data security, data breach, privacy issues, governmental compliance, immigration and internal investigations. The firm represents international and Fortune 500 firms, including MGM Resorts International, Dave & Buster's and many others. More information is available at http://www.yarbroughlawgroup.com.

For more information on the civil Exel Transportation trade secret theft case, please contact Dave Moore at 800-559-4534 or dave@androvett.com.