The goal of the initiative is to increase the quality and quantity of intellectual property crime prosecutions nationwide. Schenning thanked the software industry group, the Business Software Alliance of Washington, D.C., for its assistance in identifying the location of the defendants and in identifying and valuing the copyrighted programs sold by the defendants. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Stuart A. Berman and Michael O'Leary, Trial Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice, Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. Evidence presented at the guilty pleas showed that Xie had four university degrees, including a Ph.D. in molecular biology from Vanderbilt University. Liu had an M.D. degree from a university in China and knew how to operate a personal computer but had worked as a restaurant employee and office assistant since coming to the United States.
Restitution is mandatory.
The Court will determine the appropriate sentence to be imposed under the United States Sentencing Guidelines.