Ex-Microsoft worker sentenced to prison

SEATTLE – A federal judge sentenced a former Microsoft Corp. employee on Friday to four years in prison for illegally selling millions of dollars of company software.

Finn W. Contini, 37, of Redmond, pleaded guilty in January to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and four counts of money laundering.

He admitted ordering 2,700 pieces of software worth about $7 million through Microsoft’s internal ordering program, which he then sold for a personal profit of $2.3 million.

Prosecutors argued that Contini recruited others to take part in the scheme.

“We dispute the characterization he was a ringleader in any way,” Contini’s attorney, Ralph Hurvitz, said Friday.

Three other employees were sentenced earlier this year. Robert Howdeshell, 40 of Puyallup, was sentenced to two years and three months in prison. Alyson Clark, 38, of Normandy Park, and Christine Hendrickson, 34, of Bothell, each got five months in prison and five months of home confinement.

According to prosecutors, they used an Internet-based system that allows Microsoft employees to order software for business purposes at no personal cost. They then manipulated the system to prevent e-mail notices of their orders from being sent to their supervisors or managers. Microsoft said it made changes to make the system more secure in mid-2002.

As part of a plea agreement reached earlier this year, Contini agreed to forfeit more than $1.7 million in assets he acquired with money from the sales scheme, including four properties in Washington and Oregon, a 2003 Toyota Highlander, a 2002 Honda Civic, silver and gold coins, and more than $188,000 in bank accounts and currency.

After the forfeiture agreement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Contini used a baseball bat to damage at least one of the properties.

“We disputed that there was any malicious damage that was done,” Hurvitz said, noting that he submitted evidence that Contini had some damage repaired before he vacated the premises.

Prosecutors said Contini blamed the destruction on a psychological disability and tried to avoid prison time by claiming that severe food allergies and mental problems would make incarceration untenable.

U.S. District Judge John Coughenour ruled that a prison term was justified.

Hurvitz declined to discuss Contini’s psychological disability, but said the U.S. Bureau of Prisons “will receive a lot of medical documentation. … We’ll see what their response is as to whether and where they might be able to accommodate Mr. Contini.”