WASHINGTON – Charles Edwards and Murali Venkata are charged in United States District Court for the District of Columbia case number 20-cr-66 and Sonal Patel is charged in case number 19-cr-81. Charles Edwards, Sonal Patel, and Murali Venkata, who were then employed at the Department of Homeland Security – Office of Inspector General, engaged in an unlawful scheme to convert government property for private gain between October 2014 and April 2017. They stole valuable code and databases belonging to the government. Their plan was to use the stolen property to develop a commercial software product, which they intended to sell back to the government at a profit. They hired a software development company in India to build the purported commercial product. To facilitate the Indian developers’ work, they gave the developers access to vast amounts of sensitive information contained within the stolen databases, including law-enforcement records, information regarding witnesses and confidential informants, and the Personally Identifying Information (“PII”) of hundreds of thousands of government employees. Upon learning that he was under investigation, Venkata deleted incriminating text messages, call records, and emails in an effort to obstruct the investigation.
Sonal Patel and Charles Edwards both pled guilty and agreed to cooperate with the government. On April 4, 2019, Sonal Patel pled guilty pre-indictment to one count of conspiracy to commit theft of government property, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371. On March 5, 2020, a grand jury returned can Indictment charging defendants Charles Edwards and Murali Venkata with conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 (count one); theft of government property, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 641 & 2 (count two); wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1343 & 2 (counts three through eleven); and aggravated identity theft, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1028A & 2 (counts twelve through fifteen). The Indictment also charged Venkata with destruction of records, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1519 (count sixteen). On January 14, 2022, Charles Edwards pled guilty to count one and count two. Murali Venkata decided to go to trial, which began on March 28, 2022. On April 11, 2022, the jury returned a verdict finding Venkata guilty of all counts on which they deliberated: Counts one, two, eleven, thirteen, and sixteen. The Court subsequently dismissed counts twelve through fifteen.
Sentencing dates have now been scheduled for all three defendants. The sentencing for Murali Venkata is currently scheduled for January 4, 2024 at 2:00 p.m. EST. The sentencing for Charles Edwards is currently scheduled for January 12, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. EST. The sentencing for Sonal Patel is currently scheduled for January 26, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. EST. All of the sentencings will be held before Judge Randolph D. Moss in Courtroom 8 of the U.S. District Courthouse. The courthouse address is 333 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20001.
If you believe you were a victim of Edwards, Patel, and Venkata’s unauthorized disclosure of PII, please find more information here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/us-v-edwardspatelvenkata.