UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Plaintiff v. GREGORY ALEXANDER, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Case No. CR-09-00719-MHP GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSE AND OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANT'S MOTIONS FOR: (1) BILL OF PARTICULARS; (2) TO COMPEL DISCOVERY; and (3) DISMISSAL OF AGGRAVATED IDENTITY CHARGE TOGETHER WITH A STATEMENT OF FACTS, MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES, AND UNITED STATES’ MOTION FOR:
JOSEPH P. RUSSONIELLO (CSBN 44332) United States Attorney BRIAN J. STRETCH (CSBN 163973) Chief, Criminal Division RICHARD C. CHENG (CSBN 135992) Assistant U. S. Attorney 150 Almaden Boulevard, 9 Floor th San Jose, California 95113 Telephone: (408) 535-5032 Fax: (408) 535-5066 e-mail: richard.ch...@usdoj.gov Attorneys for Plaintiff UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION ) ) (1) RECIPROCAL DISCOVERY ) ) DATE: TIME: . COMES NOW the plaintiff, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, by and through its counsel, Joseph P. Russoniello, United States Attorney, and Richard C. Cheng, Assistant United States Attorney, and hereby files its Response and Opposition to Defendants’ above-referenced motions. // // I. STATEMENT OF FACTS A. The Indictment The Indictment charges defendant GREGORY ALEXANDER with thirty-four (34) separate counts of intentionally accessing a computer without authorization, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(2)(C) and (c)(2)(B)(ii); and one count of aggravated identity theft, in violation of 18 U.S.C., § 1028A(a)(1). The Indictment alleges that ALEXANDER violated the laws of the United States laws by illegally accessing the e-mail account of randallho...@yahoo.com, belonging to Randall Hough, and operated by Yahoo!, Inc; as well as illegal possession and use of a means of identification of another, specifically the username and password belonging to and assigned to Randall Hough, in relation to committing a fraud in connection with computers. . B. Summary of Facts From Fall 2007 to Spring 2008, Gregory Alexander accessed the personal email account of Randall Hough, a Director on the United States Chess Federation Board (Board), and obtained privileged attorney-client material. The privileged attorney-client material at issue was comprised of confidential e-mail communications from Karl Kronenberger, external counsel for the United States Chess Federation (USCF), to the members of the United States Chess Federation Board of Directors Legal Subcommittee (Legal Subcommittee) of which Alexander was not a member. No one outside the Legal Subcommittee had permission to access this privileged attorney-client material. Kronenberger’s assessment of the compromised materials accounts for a loss of over $50,000 to the Federation. Moreover, Alexander has admitted in court proceedings that internet protocol addresses used to access Hough’s personal email account belonged to him, Alexander . Furthermore, the use of an Internet Protocol (IP) address masking tool depicts Alexander’s efforts to avoid detection. Messages collected suggest that on at least one occasion, Alexander accessed Hough’s account at the behest of Susan Polgar, who was at the time, a Director on the Federation Board.
C. Background Beginning in June 2005, approximately 2500 messages, many with inflammatory content, were posted to internet newsgroups (newsgroups) and attributed to Sam Sloan, a then sitting and now former Director on the United States Chess Federation (USCF) Board. The postings were concentrated in chess related newsgroups and focused on principals and institutions associated with the USCF. In September 2007, Brian Mottershead, a USCF web systems administrator, began an investigation into the source of the postings. Mottershead noticed that several of the Newsgroup postings were copies of posts originally made on an internal USCF web forum. Since posts to the USCF web forum at issue were only accessible to USCF members, Mottershead theorized that the source of the postings was a member of the USCF. By matching the publicly available internet protocol (IP) addresses in the headers of the Newsgroup postings to the IP addresses attributable to USCF members logging into the USCF web forum, a single suspect was identified: Paul Truong, a USCF Board Member and the husband of Susan Polgar. Mottershead’s forensic techniques were subsequently evaluated by outside experts who concluded that the techniques employed were sound.
The investigation shows the value of a seat on the USCF Board of Directors carries prestige within the chess community and associated opportunities to monetize that prestige. For example, Directors may garner opportunities to earn speaking fees or host tournaments. At the time the postings began, Sloan was a sitting member of the USCF Board and up for election. In the election cycle following the release of the newsgroup postings, Sloan lost his bid for reelection while Truong and Polgar became first-time Directors. As a result of the allegations made in Mottershead’s report against a sitting Board Member, the USCF retained attorney Karl Kronenberger (Kronenberger) in October 2007. On Kronenberger’s recommendation, the USCF Board formed a subcommittee (Legal Subcommittee) consisting of the members of the USCF Board with the exceptions of Truong and Polgar. Truong and Polgar were excluded from the Legal Subcommittee since Truong was the subject of the allegations at issue and Polgar was married to Truong. Kronenberger then began communicating with the members of the Legal Subcommittee by electronically sending privileged attorney-client material (privileged material), including legal strategy, to the personal email accounts (or in the case of USCF Executive Director Bill Hall, to his USCF issued email account) of the Legal Subcommittee members.
In late 2007 and early 2008, Polgar communicated via email to the other members of the full USCF Board several times and repeatedly referenced contents of the privileged material to which she, Polgar emails Kronenberger emails Privileged material referenced Dec. 1, 2007 Nov. 27, 2007 Legal strategy related to the insurer, Chubb Dec. 5, 2007 Nov. 27, 2007 Legal strategy related to the insurer, Chubb Jan. 13, 2008 Nov. 27, 2007 Verbatim quotation
ostensibly, did not have access. Specifically, in Dec. 1, 2007, Dec. 5, 2007, Jan 13, 2008, Jan. 24, 2008, and June 23, 2008 communications, Polgar made references to confidential legal strategy, confidential negotiations, and/or quoted verbatim from privileged material or private communications between other Board members.
D. The Intrusion Into Hough’s Yahoo E-mail Account Given the compromise of the privileged material, Kronenberger initiated an investigation to identify the source and later alerted the United States Secret Service (Secret Service). In doing so, Kronenberger and the Secret Service were able to identify several instances of intrusions into the Hough account by 1/ comparing Hough’s known internet activity and physical location to the IP addresses used to access Hough’s account. As a result of subpoenas for records related to the IP addresses from which the intrusions originated, Alexander was revealed as the owner in question. Additional comparisons of IP address logs from internet services used by Alexander to the IP addresses used to intrude upon the Hough account, revealed a strong correlation of the timing between Alexander’s usage, intrusions into the Hough account, communications by Kronenberger of privileged material to the Legal Subcommittee and references to privileged materials made by Polgar in communications to the USCF Board.
According to Kronenberger, he began the investigation on behalf of the USCF in response to the references made by Polgar to privileged materials in communications to the USCF Board. Upon being questioned about her source for the privileged material, Polgar originally claimed to have obtained the privileged materials from the Internet and, later, an anonymous source who would be willing to testify. USCF investigated Polgar’s claim that the privileged material was available on the Internet and was not able to verify Polgar’s assertion. *Additionally, Polgar failed to produce the anonymous source.* USCF then had the members of the Legal Subcommittee sign affidavits to the effect that none of the emails in
1/For these purposes, ‛intrusion’ will be used to describe activity that could not be reconciled with Hough’s attempts to access his personal email account from Hough’s known physical locations and/or internet service. the possession of the Legal Subcommittee had been forwarded. Without additional evidence, the USCF was initially unable to determine how Polgar had gained access to the privileged material.
On June 23, 2008, however, Polgar sent an email to the members of the Legal Subcommittee that referenced the content of an email exchanged just hours earlier between Legal Subcommittee members Hough, Bill Goichberg, and Jim Berry. To determine if the email accounts of Hough, Goichberg, and/or Berry were sources for Polgar of privileged material, USCF filed a John Doe lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court and used the accompanying subpoena power to obtain a list of IP addresses that logged into the Goichberg, Hough, and Berry personal email accounts during the period in question.
The USCF investigation, which was later duplicated by the U.S. Secret Service, showed multiple IP addresses were used for logging into Hough’s email account (Hough account) were not attributable to Hough’ s legitimate computing activity. Subsequently, an investigation by Agent Kyle Haynes of the Secret Service confirmed Kronenberger’s findings. Indeed, matching the IP addresses attributable to Hough’s physical location at the time period in question revealed 166 instance of intrusions
...
On Jul 6, 9:11 pm, "B. Lafferty" <b...@nowhere.com> wrote:
> This was filed with Judge Patel today.
> UNITED STATES OF AMERICA > Plaintiff > v. > GREGORY ALEXANDER, > Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Case No. CR-09-00719-MHP > GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSE AND OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANT'S MOTIONS FOR: > (1) BILL OF PARTICULARS; > (2) TO COMPEL DISCOVERY; and > (3) DISMISSAL OF AGGRAVATED IDENTITY CHARGE > TOGETHER WITH A STATEMENT OF FACTS, MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND > AUTHORITIES, AND UNITED STATES’ MOTION FOR:
<snip>
Expatriate the bunch. We don't need anymore third world crooks or gypsies.
Having now read the filing again, the following statement by the US Attorney is really very interesting. It reads:
"Messages collected suggest that on at least one occasion, Alexander accessed Hough’s account at the behest of Susan Polgar, who was at the time, a Director on the Federation Board."
I note the use of messages plural. No doubt Alexander's counsel will want to see these messages if she has not already seen them.
> UNITED STATES OF AMERICA > Plaintiff > v. > GREGORY ALEXANDER, > Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Case No. CR-09-00719-MHP > GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSE AND OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANT'S MOTIONS FOR: > (1) BILL OF PARTICULARS; > (2) TO COMPEL DISCOVERY; and > (3) DISMISSAL OF AGGRAVATED IDENTITY CHARGE > TOGETHER WITH A STATEMENT OF FACTS, MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND > AUTHORITIES, AND UNITED STATES’ MOTION FOR:
> JOSEPH P. RUSSONIELLO (CSBN 44332) United States Attorney > BRIAN J. STRETCH (CSBN 163973) Chief, Criminal Division > RICHARD C. CHENG (CSBN 135992) Assistant U. S. Attorney > 150 Almaden Boulevard, 9 Floor > th > San Jose, California 95113 > Telephone: (408) 535-5032 > Fax: (408) 535-5066 > e-mail: richard.ch...@usdoj.gov > Attorneys for Plaintiff > UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT > NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA > SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION > ) > ) (1) RECIPROCAL DISCOVERY > ) > ) DATE: > TIME: . > COMES NOW the plaintiff, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, by and through its > counsel, Joseph P. Russoniello, United States Attorney, and Richard C. > Cheng, Assistant United States Attorney, and hereby files its Response > and Opposition to Defendants’ above-referenced motions. > // > // I. > STATEMENT OF FACTS > A. The Indictment > The Indictment charges defendant GREGORY ALEXANDER with thirty-four (34) > separate counts of intentionally accessing a computer without > authorization, in violation of 18 U.S.C. > § 1030(a)(2)(C) and (c)(2)(B)(ii); and one count of aggravated identity > theft, in violation of 18 U.S.C., § 1028A(a)(1). The Indictment alleges > that ALEXANDER violated the laws of the United States laws by illegally > accessing the e-mail account of randallho...@yahoo.com, belonging to > Randall Hough, and operated by Yahoo!, Inc; as well as illegal > possession and use of a means of identification of another, specifically > the username and password belonging to and assigned to Randall Hough, in > relation to committing a fraud in connection with computers. > . > B. Summary of Facts > From Fall 2007 to Spring 2008, Gregory Alexander accessed the personal > email account of Randall Hough, a Director on the United States Chess > Federation Board (Board), and obtained privileged attorney-client > material. The privileged attorney-client material at issue was comprised > of confidential e-mail communications from Karl Kronenberger, external > counsel for the United States Chess Federation (USCF), to the members of > the United States Chess Federation Board of Directors Legal Subcommittee > (Legal Subcommittee) of which Alexander was not a member. No one outside > the Legal Subcommittee had permission to access this privileged > attorney-client material. Kronenberger’s assessment of the compromised > materials accounts for a loss of over $50,000 to the Federation. > Moreover, Alexander has admitted in court proceedings that internet > protocol addresses used to access Hough’s personal email account > belonged to him, Alexander . Furthermore, the use of an Internet > Protocol (IP) address masking tool depicts Alexander’s efforts to avoid > detection. Messages collected suggest that on at least one occasion, > Alexander accessed Hough’s account at the behest of Susan Polgar, who > was at the time, a Director on the Federation Board.
> C. Background > Beginning in June 2005, approximately 2500 messages, many with > inflammatory content, were posted to internet newsgroups (newsgroups) > and attributed to Sam Sloan, a then sitting and now former Director on > the United States Chess Federation (USCF) Board. The postings were > concentrated in chess related newsgroups and focused on principals and > institutions associated with the USCF. In September 2007, Brian > Mottershead, a USCF web systems administrator, began an investigation > into the source of the postings. Mottershead noticed that several of the > Newsgroup postings were copies of posts originally made on an internal > USCF web forum. Since posts to the USCF web forum at issue were only > accessible to USCF members, Mottershead theorized that the source of the > postings was a member of the USCF. By matching the publicly available > internet protocol (IP) addresses in the headers of the Newsgroup > postings to the IP addresses attributable to USCF members logging into > the USCF web forum, a single suspect was identified: Paul Truong, a USCF > Board Member and the husband of Susan Polgar. Mottershead’s forensic > techniques were subsequently evaluated by outside experts who concluded > that the techniques employed were sound.
> The investigation shows the value of a seat on the USCF Board of > Directors carries prestige within the chess community and associated > opportunities to monetize that prestige. For example, Directors may > garner opportunities to earn speaking fees or host tournaments. At the > time the postings began, Sloan was a sitting member of the USCF Board > and up for election. In the election cycle following the release of the > newsgroup postings, Sloan lost his bid for reelection while Truong and > Polgar became first-time Directors. > As a result of the allegations made in Mottershead’s report against a > sitting Board Member, the USCF retained attorney Karl Kronenberger > (Kronenberger) in October 2007. On Kronenberger’s recommendation, the > USCF Board formed a subcommittee (Legal Subcommittee) consisting of the > members of the USCF Board with the exceptions of Truong and Polgar. > Truong and Polgar were excluded from the Legal Subcommittee since Truong > was the subject of the allegations at issue and Polgar was married to > Truong. Kronenberger then began communicating with the members of the > Legal Subcommittee by electronically sending privileged attorney-client > material (privileged material), including legal strategy, to the > personal email accounts (or in the case of USCF Executive Director Bill > Hall, to his USCF issued email account) of the Legal Subcommittee members.
> In late 2007 and early 2008, Polgar communicated via email to the other > members of the full USCF Board several times and repeatedly referenced > contents of the privileged material to which she, Polgar emails > Kronenberger emails Privileged material referenced > Dec. 1, 2007 Nov. 27, 2007 Legal strategy related to the insurer, Chubb > Dec. 5, 2007 Nov. 27, 2007 Legal strategy related to the insurer, Chubb > Jan. 13, 2008 Nov. 27, 2007 Verbatim quotation
> ostensibly, did not have access. Specifically, in Dec. 1, 2007, Dec. 5, > 2007, Jan 13, 2008, Jan. 24, 2008, and June 23, 2008 communications, > Polgar made references to confidential legal strategy, confidential > negotiations, and/or quoted verbatim from privileged material or private > communications between other Board members.
> D. The Intrusion Into Hough’s Yahoo E-mail Account > Given the compromise of the privileged material, Kronenberger initiated > an investigation to identify the source and later alerted the United > States Secret Service (Secret Service). In doing so, Kronenberger and > the Secret Service were able to identify several instances of intrusions > into the Hough account by > 1/ > comparing Hough’s known internet activity and physical location to the > IP addresses used to access Hough’s account. As a result of subpoenas > for records related to the IP addresses from which the intrusions > originated, Alexander was revealed as the owner in question. Additional > comparisons of IP address logs from internet services used by Alexander > to the IP addresses used to intrude upon the Hough account, revealed a > strong correlation of the timing between Alexander’s usage, intrusions > into the Hough account, communications by Kronenberger of privileged > material to the Legal Subcommittee and references to privileged > materials made by Polgar in communications to the USCF Board.
> According to Kronenberger, he began the investigation on behalf of the > USCF in response to the references made by Polgar to privileged > materials in communications to the USCF Board. Upon being questioned > about her source for the privileged material, Polgar originally claimed > to have obtained the privileged materials from the Internet and, later, > an anonymous source who would be willing to testify. USCF investigated > Polgar’s claim that the privileged material was available on the > Internet and was not able to verify Polgar’s assertion. *Additionally, > Polgar failed to produce the anonymous source.* USCF then had the > members of the Legal Subcommittee sign affidavits to the effect that > none of the emails in
> 1/For these purposes, ‛intrusion’ will be used to describe activity that > could not be reconciled with Hough’s attempts to access his personal > email account from Hough’s known physical locations and/or internet > service. the possession of the Legal Subcommittee had been forwarded. > Without additional evidence, the USCF was initially unable to determine > how Polgar had gained access to the privileged material.
> On June 23, 2008, however, Polgar sent an email to the members of the > Legal Subcommittee that referenced the content of an email exchanged > just hours earlier between Legal Subcommittee members Hough, Bill > Goichberg, and Jim Berry. To determine if the email accounts of Hough, > Goichberg, and/or Berry were sources for Polgar of privileged material, > USCF filed a John Doe lawsuit in San
> On Jul 6, 9:11 pm, "B. Lafferty" <b...@nowhere.com> wrote:> This was filed with Judge Patel today.
> > UNITED STATES OF AMERICA > > Plaintiff > > v. > > GREGORY ALEXANDER, > > Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Case No. CR-09-00719-MHP > > GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSE AND OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANT'S MOTIONS FOR: > > (1) BILL OF PARTICULARS; > > (2) TO COMPEL DISCOVERY; and > > (3) DISMISSAL OF AGGRAVATED IDENTITY CHARGE > > TOGETHER WITH A STATEMENT OF FACTS, MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND > > AUTHORITIES, AND UNITED STATES’ MOTION FOR:
> <snip>
> Expatriate the bunch. We don't need anymore third world crooks or > gypsies.
> UNITED STATES OF AMERICA > Plaintiff > v. > GREGORY ALEXANDER, > Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Case No. CR-09-00719-MHP > GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSE AND OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANT'S MOTIONS FOR: > (1) BILL OF PARTICULARS; > (2) TO COMPEL DISCOVERY; and > (3) DISMISSAL OF AGGRAVATED IDENTITY CHARGE > TOGETHER WITH A STATEMENT OF FACTS, MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND > AUTHORITIES, AND UNITED STATES' MOTION FOR:
> JOSEPH P. RUSSONIELLO (CSBN 44332) United States Attorney > BRIAN J. STRETCH (CSBN 163973) Chief, Criminal Division > RICHARD C. CHENG (CSBN 135992) Assistant U. S. Attorney > 150 Almaden Boulevard, 9 Floor > th > San Jose, California 95113 > Telephone: (408) 535-5032 > Fax: (408) 535-5066 > e-mail: richard.ch...@usdoj.gov > Attorneys for Plaintiff > UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT > NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA > SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION > ) > ) (1) RECIPROCAL DISCOVERY > ) > ) DATE: > TIME: . > COMES NOW the plaintiff, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, by and through its > counsel, Joseph P. Russoniello, United States Attorney, and Richard C. > Cheng, Assistant United States Attorney, and hereby files its Response > and Opposition to Defendants' above-referenced motions. > // > // I. > STATEMENT OF FACTS > A. The Indictment > The Indictment charges defendant GREGORY ALEXANDER with thirty-four (34) > separate counts of intentionally accessing a computer without > authorization, in violation of 18 U.S.C. > § 1030(a)(2)(C) and (c)(2)(B)(ii); and one count of aggravated identity > theft, in violation of 18 U.S.C., § 1028A(a)(1). The Indictment alleges > that ALEXANDER violated the laws of the United States laws by illegally > accessing the e-mail account of randallho...@yahoo.com, belonging to > Randall Hough, and operated by Yahoo!, Inc; as well as illegal > possession and use of a means of identification of another, specifically > the username and password belonging to and assigned to Randall Hough, in > relation to committing a fraud in connection with computers. > . > B. Summary of Facts > From Fall 2007 to Spring 2008, Gregory Alexander accessed the personal > email account of Randall Hough, a Director on the United States Chess > Federation Board (Board), and obtained privileged attorney-client > material. The privileged attorney-client material at issue was comprised > of confidential e-mail communications from Karl Kronenberger, external > counsel for the United States Chess Federation (USCF), to the members of > the United States Chess Federation Board of Directors Legal Subcommittee > (Legal Subcommittee) of which Alexander was not a member. No one outside > the Legal Subcommittee had permission to access this privileged > attorney-client material. Kronenberger's assessment of the compromised > materials accounts for a loss of over $50,000 to the Federation. > Moreover, Alexander has admitted in court proceedings that internet > protocol addresses used to access Hough's personal email account > belonged to him, Alexander . Furthermore, the use of an Internet > Protocol (IP) address masking tool depicts Alexander's efforts to avoid > detection. Messages collected suggest that on at least one occasion, > Alexander accessed Hough's account at the behest of Susan Polgar, who > was at the time, a Director on the Federation Board.
> C. Background > Beginning in June 2005, approximately 2500 messages, many with > inflammatory content, were posted to internet newsgroups (newsgroups) > and attributed to Sam Sloan, a then sitting and now former Director on > the United States Chess Federation (USCF) Board. The postings were > concentrated in chess related newsgroups and focused on principals and > institutions associated with the USCF. In September 2007, Brian > Mottershead, a USCF web systems administrator, began an investigation > into the source of the postings. Mottershead noticed that several of the > Newsgroup postings were copies of posts originally made on an internal > USCF web forum. Since posts to the USCF web forum at issue were only > accessible to USCF members, Mottershead theorized that the source of the > postings was a member of the USCF. By matching the publicly available > internet protocol (IP) addresses in the headers of the Newsgroup > postings to the IP addresses attributable to USCF members logging into > the USCF web forum, a single suspect was identified: Paul Truong, a USCF > Board Member and the husband of Susan Polgar. Mottershead's forensic > techniques were subsequently evaluated by outside experts who concluded > that the techniques employed were sound.
> The investigation shows the value of a seat on the USCF Board of > Directors carries prestige within the chess community and associated > opportunities to monetize that prestige. For example, Directors may > garner opportunities to earn speaking fees or host tournaments. At the > time the postings began, Sloan was a sitting member of the USCF Board > and up for election. In the election cycle following the release of the > newsgroup postings, Sloan lost his bid for reelection while Truong and > Polgar became first-time Directors. > As a result of the allegations made in Mottershead's report against a > sitting Board Member, the USCF retained attorney Karl Kronenberger > (Kronenberger) in October 2007. On Kronenberger's recommendation, the > USCF Board formed a subcommittee (Legal Subcommittee) consisting of the > members of the USCF Board with the exceptions of Truong and Polgar. > Truong and Polgar were excluded from the Legal Subcommittee since Truong > was the subject of the allegations at issue and Polgar was married to > Truong. Kronenberger then began communicating with the members of the > Legal Subcommittee by electronically sending privileged attorney-client > material (privileged material), including legal strategy, to the > personal email accounts (or in the case of USCF Executive Director Bill > Hall, to his USCF issued email account) of the Legal Subcommittee members.
> In late 2007 and early 2008, Polgar communicated via email to the other > members of the full USCF Board several times and repeatedly referenced > contents of the privileged material to which she, Polgar emails > Kronenberger emails Privileged material referenced > Dec. 1, 2007 Nov. 27, 2007 Legal strategy related to the insurer, Chubb > Dec. 5, 2007 Nov. 27, 2007 Legal strategy related to the insurer, Chubb > Jan. 13, 2008 Nov. 27, 2007 Verbatim quotation
> ostensibly, did not have access. Specifically, in Dec. 1, 2007, Dec. 5, > 2007, Jan 13, 2008, Jan. 24, 2008, and June 23, 2008 communications, > Polgar made references to confidential legal strategy, confidential > negotiations, and/or quoted verbatim from privileged material or private > communications between other Board members.
> D. The Intrusion Into Hough's Yahoo E-mail Account > Given the compromise of the privileged material, Kronenberger initiated > an investigation to identify the source and later alerted the United > States Secret Service (Secret Service). In doing so, Kronenberger and > the Secret Service were able to identify several instances of intrusions > into the Hough account by > 1/ > comparing Hough's known internet activity and physical location to the > IP addresses used to access Hough's account. As a result of subpoenas > for records related to the IP addresses from which the intrusions > originated, Alexander was revealed as the owner in question. Additional > comparisons of IP address logs from internet services used by Alexander > to the IP addresses used to intrude upon the Hough account, revealed a > strong correlation of the timing between Alexander's usage, intrusions > into the Hough account, communications by Kronenberger of privileged > material to the Legal Subcommittee and references to privileged > materials made by Polgar in communications to the USCF Board.
> According to Kronenberger, he began the investigation on behalf of the > USCF in response to the references made by Polgar to privileged > materials in communications to the USCF Board. Upon being questioned > about her source for the privileged material, Polgar originally claimed > to have obtained the privileged materials from the Internet and, later, > an anonymous source who would be willing to testify. USCF investigated > Polgar's claim that the privileged material was available on the > Internet and was not able to verify Polgar's assertion. *Additionally, > Polgar failed to produce the anonymous source.* USCF then had the > members of the Legal Subcommittee sign affidavits to the effect that > none of the emails in
> 1/For these purposes, 'intrusion' will be used to describe activity that > could not be reconciled with Hough's attempts to access his personal > email account from Hough's known physical locations and/or internet > service. the possession of the Legal Subcommittee had been forwarded. > Without additional evidence, the USCF was initially unable to determine > how Polgar had gained access to the privileged material.
> On June 23, 2008, however, Polgar sent an email to the members of the > Legal Subcommittee that referenced the content of an email exchanged > just hours earlier between Legal Subcommittee members Hough, Bill > Goichberg, and Jim Berry. To determine if the email accounts of Hough, > Goichberg, and/or Berry were sources for Polgar of privileged material, > USCF filed a John Doe lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court and used > the accompanying subpoena power to obtain a list of IP addresses that > logged into the Goichberg, Hough, and Berry personal email accounts > during the period in question.
> The USCF investigation, which was later duplicated by the U.S. Secret > Service, showed multiple IP addresses were used for
*The US Attorney has a very, very strong case against Alexander on all counts. *Despite what Polgar has said about there being no business relationship between her and Alexander, the US Secret Service apparently has developed information indicating otherwise. * The US Attorney apparently has multiple messages suggesting that at least one (maybe more??) of the hackings alleged to have been done by Alexander, was done at the request of Ms. Polgar.
> Can you condense all the legalese down to a few bullet points?
> On Jul 6, 9:11 pm, "B. Lafferty"<b...@nowhere.com> wrote: >> This was filed with Judge Patel today.
>> UNITED STATES OF AMERICA >> Plaintiff >> v. >> GREGORY ALEXANDER, >> Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Case No. CR-09-00719-MHP >> GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSE AND OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANT'S MOTIONS FOR: >> (1) BILL OF PARTICULARS; >> (2) TO COMPEL DISCOVERY; and >> (3) DISMISSAL OF AGGRAVATED IDENTITY CHARGE >> TOGETHER WITH A STATEMENT OF FACTS, MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND >> AUTHORITIES, AND UNITED STATES' MOTION FOR:
>> JOSEPH P. RUSSONIELLO (CSBN 44332) United States Attorney >> BRIAN J. STRETCH (CSBN 163973) Chief, Criminal Division >> RICHARD C. CHENG (CSBN 135992) Assistant U. S. Attorney >> 150 Almaden Boulevard, 9 Floor >> th >> San Jose, California 95113 >> Telephone: (408) 535-5032 >> Fax: (408) 535-5066 >> e-mail: richard.ch...@usdoj.gov >> Attorneys for Plaintiff >> UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT >> NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA >> SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION >> ) >> ) (1) RECIPROCAL DISCOVERY >> ) >> ) DATE: >> TIME: . >> COMES NOW the plaintiff, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, by and through its >> counsel, Joseph P. Russoniello, United States Attorney, and Richard C. >> Cheng, Assistant United States Attorney, and hereby files its Response >> and Opposition to Defendants' above-referenced motions. >> // >> // I. >> STATEMENT OF FACTS >> A. The Indictment >> The Indictment charges defendant GREGORY ALEXANDER with thirty-four (34) >> separate counts of intentionally accessing a computer without >> authorization, in violation of 18 U.S.C. >> § 1030(a)(2)(C) and (c)(2)(B)(ii); and one count of aggravated identity >> theft, in violation of 18 U.S.C., § 1028A(a)(1). The Indictment alleges >> that ALEXANDER violated the laws of the United States laws by illegally >> accessing the e-mail account of randallho...@yahoo.com, belonging to >> Randall Hough, and operated by Yahoo!, Inc; as well as illegal >> possession and use of a means of identification of another, specifically >> the username and password belonging to and assigned to Randall Hough, in >> relation to committing a fraud in connection with computers. >> . >> B. Summary of Facts >> From Fall 2007 to Spring 2008, Gregory Alexander accessed the personal >> email account of Randall Hough, a Director on the United States Chess >> Federation Board (Board), and obtained privileged attorney-client >> material. The privileged attorney-client material at issue was comprised >> of confidential e-mail communications from Karl Kronenberger, external >> counsel for the United States Chess Federation (USCF), to the members of >> the United States Chess Federation Board of Directors Legal Subcommittee >> (Legal Subcommittee) of which Alexander was not a member. No one outside >> the Legal Subcommittee had permission to access this privileged >> attorney-client material. Kronenberger's assessment of the compromised >> materials accounts for a loss of over $50,000 to the Federation. >> Moreover, Alexander has admitted in court proceedings that internet >> protocol addresses used to access Hough's personal email account >> belonged to him, Alexander . Furthermore, the use of an Internet >> Protocol (IP) address masking tool depicts Alexander's efforts to avoid >> detection. Messages collected suggest that on at least one occasion, >> Alexander accessed Hough's account at the behest of Susan Polgar, who >> was at the time, a Director on the Federation Board.
>> C. Background >> Beginning in June 2005, approximately 2500 messages, many with >> inflammatory content, were posted to internet newsgroups (newsgroups) >> and attributed to Sam Sloan, a then sitting and now former Director on >> the United States Chess Federation (USCF) Board. The postings were >> concentrated in chess related newsgroups and focused on principals and >> institutions associated with the USCF. In September 2007, Brian >> Mottershead, a USCF web systems administrator, began an investigation >> into the source of the postings. Mottershead noticed that several of the >> Newsgroup postings were copies of posts originally made on an internal >> USCF web forum. Since posts to the USCF web forum at issue were only >> accessible to USCF members, Mottershead theorized that the source of the >> postings was a member of the USCF. By matching the publicly available >> internet protocol (IP) addresses in the headers of the Newsgroup >> postings to the IP addresses attributable to USCF members logging into >> the USCF web forum, a single suspect was identified: Paul Truong, a USCF >> Board Member and the husband of Susan Polgar. Mottershead's forensic >> techniques were subsequently evaluated by outside experts who concluded >> that the techniques employed were sound.
>> The investigation shows the value of a seat on the USCF Board of >> Directors carries prestige within the chess community and associated >> opportunities to monetize that prestige. For example, Directors may >> garner opportunities to earn speaking fees or host tournaments. At the >> time the postings began, Sloan was a sitting member of the USCF Board >> and up for election. In the election cycle following the release of the >> newsgroup postings, Sloan lost his bid for reelection while Truong and >> Polgar became first-time Directors. >> As a result of the allegations made in Mottershead's report against a >> sitting Board Member, the USCF retained attorney Karl Kronenberger >> (Kronenberger) in October 2007. On Kronenberger's recommendation, the >> USCF Board formed a subcommittee (Legal Subcommittee) consisting of the >> members of the USCF Board with the exceptions of Truong and Polgar. >> Truong and Polgar were excluded from the Legal Subcommittee since Truong >> was the subject of the allegations at issue and Polgar was married to >> Truong. Kronenberger then began communicating with the members of the >> Legal Subcommittee by electronically sending privileged attorney-client >> material (privileged material), including legal strategy, to the >> personal email accounts (or in the case of USCF Executive Director Bill >> Hall, to his USCF issued email account) of the Legal Subcommittee members.
>> In late 2007 and early 2008, Polgar communicated via email to the other >> members of the full USCF Board several times and repeatedly referenced >> contents of the privileged material to which she, Polgar emails >> Kronenberger emails Privileged material referenced >> Dec. 1, 2007 Nov. 27, 2007 Legal strategy related to the insurer, Chubb >> Dec. 5, 2007 Nov. 27, 2007 Legal strategy related to the insurer, Chubb >> Jan. 13, 2008 Nov. 27, 2007 Verbatim quotation
>> ostensibly, did not have access. Specifically, in Dec. 1, 2007, Dec. 5, >> 2007, Jan 13, 2008, Jan. 24, 2008, and June 23, 2008 communications, >> Polgar made references to confidential legal strategy, confidential >> negotiations, and/or quoted verbatim from privileged material or private >> communications between other Board members.
>> D. The Intrusion Into Hough's Yahoo E-mail Account >> Given the compromise of the privileged material, Kronenberger initiated >> an investigation to identify the source and later alerted the United >> States Secret Service (Secret Service). In doing so, Kronenberger and >> the Secret Service were able to identify several instances of intrusions >> into the Hough account by >> 1/ >> comparing Hough's known internet activity and physical location to the >> IP addresses used to access Hough's account. As a result of subpoenas >> for records related to the IP addresses from which the intrusions >> originated, Alexander was revealed as the owner in question. Additional >> comparisons of IP address logs from internet services used by Alexander >> to the IP addresses used to intrude upon the Hough account, revealed a >> strong correlation of the timing between Alexander's usage, intrusions >> into the Hough account, communications by Kronenberger of privileged >> material to the Legal Subcommittee and references to privileged >> materials made by Polgar in communications to the USCF Board.
>> According to Kronenberger, he began the investigation on behalf of the >> USCF in response to the references made by Polgar to privileged >> materials in communications to the USCF Board. Upon being questioned >> about her source for the privileged material, Polgar originally claimed >> to have obtained the privileged materials from the Internet and, later, >> an anonymous source who would be willing to testify. USCF investigated >> Polgar's claim that the privileged material was available on the >> Internet and was not able to verify Polgar's assertion. *Additionally, >> Polgar failed to produce the anonymous source.* USCF then had the >> members of the Legal Subcommittee sign affidavits to the effect that >> none of the emails in
>> 1/For these purposes, 'intrusion' will be used to describe activity that >> could not be reconciled with Hough's attempts to access his personal >> email account from Hough's known physical locations and/or internet >> service. the possession of the Legal Subcommittee had been forwarded. >> Without additional evidence, the USCF was initially unable to determine >> how Polgar had gained access to the privileged material.
On Jul 7, 2:41 pm, "B. Lafferty" <b...@nowhere.com> wrote:
> Sure. My take from public documents in the case.
> *The US Attorney has a very, very strong case against Alexander on all > counts. > *Despite what Polgar has said about there being no business relationship > between her and Alexander, the US Secret Service apparently has > developed information indicating otherwise. > * The US Attorney apparently has multiple messages suggesting that at > least one (maybe more??) of the hackings alleged to have been done by > Alexander, was done at the request of Ms. Polgar.
On the face of it, Zsuzsa appears to be in trouble. If that's so, then it's a shame, but it's far from unexpected.
Several times she failed to heed good advice.
The fact that she was bested by an illiterate fuck like Stan Booz should have told her that she's just not cut out for this sort of thing.
She should have stuck to playing chess, which she does pretty well.
If she gets out of this one, she should go back to playing chess, and preparing for tournaments and everything which that implies.
She really should do nothing else.
Frankly, she's not smart enough to do anything else.
