McAfee Security Researcher Faces Trial For Fraud

A McAfee security researcher faces trial for felony fraud charges after selling $1.25 million in fake stock and then using the earnings for personal gain. McAfee employee Brett Oliphant, 29, and his brother Bryan, were accused of fraudulent sale of unregistered securities, in which they cheated victims out of more than $1.2 million.

An Indiana state judge set Oliphant's trial for Nov. 18 in Elkhart County, Ind., for charges related to four class C felonies. Charges against Oliphant include the sale of unregistered securities, transacting business by an unregistered broker or agent, fraudulent or deceitful acts with the sale or purchase of a security, and conspiracy to commit fraudulent or deceitful acts with the sale or purchase of a security.

Oliphant and his brother were accused of selling phony stock through joint businesses called 85 West, LLC and Electronic Scrap Recycling Corporation (ESRC). A private investigation revealed that Oliphant provided victims with fake investment documents about his business and used the money filched from the scam to purchase personal items such as rent, clothing and a vehicle, according to court documents.

The brothers, however, returned $350,000 to two investors who eventually became suspicious, according to the investigation.

According to court documents, all crimes were carried out between Nov 1, 2004 and Aug. 31, 2005 -- before Oliphant joined McAfee in February. Each charge carries a potential sentence of up to eight years in prison.

A collaborative investigation between the Indiana Secretary of State Todd Roikita's Prosecution Assistance Unit along with the Elkhart Country prosecutor and state trooper detectives led to Oliphant's arrest last December in California by the Napa police.

At the time of his arrest, Oliphant served as vice president of security services for ScanAlert, an ecommerce auditing service that scans commercial Web sites and provides them with a "hacker safe" trustmark icon, which McAfee acquired in February. At ScanAlert, Oliphant managed a research team for the company's "Hacker Safe" labs.

Before joining ScanAlert, Oliphant was the founding CTO of Security Profiling, where he developed security management technology, according to his bio on the McAfee site.

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