News
Texas D.A. Won't Prosecute Alleged Braindumper
Judge orders assets returned; Microsoft considering civil charges.
The longest-standing criminal investigation of an alleged braindumper has come
to an end without any charges being filed.
Almost two years ago, San Antonio police seized
the business and personal assets of former TestKiller.com and TroyTec.com owner
Garry Neale during a criminal investigation of a complaint made by Microsoft
alleging that he sold Microsoft certification exam questions, in violation of
Texas theft of trade secret statutes.
Now, Neale's assets -- including $408,566.84 from various bank accounts along
with business assets and personal items such as a truck, collectibles, children's
video games and a refrigerator -- have all been returned to him by court order.
The Bexar County District Attorney's Office has also publicly declared that
it no longer intends to criminally prosecute Neale.
Neale, who was never charged with any crime, declined CertCities.com's requests
for an interview. One of his defense attorneys, John Convery, told CertCities.com
that he's "very happy" for his client. Convery confirmed to CertCities.com
that all of Neale's belongings were returned to him last month.
According to the parties in the case, a plea deal was almost reached early
last year that would have led to Neale to plead to a misdemeanor and forfeit half their assets. However, this plea
deal fell through, in part because of a disagreement between the D.A.'s office
and Microsoft over who would receive the seized assets.
Story continued on CertCities.com here.
About the Author
Becky Nagel is the former editorial director and director of Web for 1105 Media's Converge 360 group, and she now serves as vice president of AI for company, specializing in developing media, events and training for companies around AI and generative AI technology. She's the author of "ChatGPT Prompt 101 Guide for Business Users" and other popular AI resources with a real-world business perspective. She regularly speaks, writes and develops content around AI, generative AI and other business tech. Find her on X/Twitter @beckynagel.