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Ex-Certegy Analyst Gets Prison For Sale Of Consumers' Data
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Published: July 10, 2008
TAMPA - A former analyst for a St. Petersburg check authorizing company was sentenced this morning to four years and nine months in federal prison for stealing more than 8.4 million consumer records that were sold to direct marketers.
William G. Sullivan worked for Certegy Check Services, a subsidiary of Fidelity National Information Services, which announced the theft in July 2007 but said 2.3 million records were involved. The company says the information was not used for identity theft or other financial fraud.
"I deeply regret what I did," Sullivan told U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday. "I in no way intended to cause anybody grief or hardship."
He said he agreed to participate in the scheme because he had no 401(k) and his wife was not working. "Bottom line is, I made a bad mistake. I'm not saying that because I got caught. Every week, I regretted it. … I'm going to stand up, be a man and take my punishment and try to move on."
"Mr. Sullivan, you've created quite a stir over a long period of time, caused a good number of people a lot of trouble," the judge said. The thefts, Merryday said, caused "a huge mess, anxiety and disruption on a huge number of people."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Palermo noted Certegy had to spend $3.2 million to notify the 5.9 million customers whose private financial information was stolen. The victims were in all 50 states, the District of Colombia, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and overseas, Palermo said.
Merryday ordered Sullivan to pay $3.2 million in restitution to Certegy, but the judge said he was fairly certain Sullivan would be unable to pay the full amount. After he is released from prison, he is to pay $250 a month until his finances change to allow an adjustment.
The thefts resulted in seven class-action lawsuits, six of which remain in various stages of settlement, Palermo said. One of the suits was dismissed.
Palermo said $233,000 was paid in outside counsel fees and plaintiffs' attorneys have been paid $2.35 million as a result of the thefts.
Sullivan, who worked at Certegy for nine years, was paid more than $580,000 for the information, according to his plea agreement.
The agreement states that Sullivan formed a company called S&S Computer Services through which he sold the stolen data to an unnamed co-conspirator. The scheme spanned at least five years, from 2002 to 2007.
The co-conspirator sold the information to direct marketers, including Strategia Marketing, also known as Suntasia. Over the course of the conspiracy, Sullivan sold 8,413,806 individuals' information, including records from 461,134 Florida residents.
About 5.6 million records stolen from Certegy contained bank account information, and 1.5 million had credit card information. An additional 1.3 million records contained no financial information.
Officials have said that as a result of the thefts, consumers received marketing solicitations from the companies that bought the data. Authorities do not think the information was used for anything else.
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