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Former CEO of Software Co. Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Steal Trade Secrets

SAN FRANCISCO � United States Attorney Kevin V. Ryan announced that John J. O�Neil, the CEO of Business Engine Software Corp. (BES), pleaded guilty yesterday afternoon in federal court to: conspiracy to steal and download the trade secrets of a chief competitor, and interstate transportation of stolen property. Mr. O�Neil is the third executive of BES to plead guilty in this case. Robert McKimmey, BES�s former Chief Technology Officer, and William McMenamin, BES�s former Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to misappropriate trade secrets.

Mr. O�Neil, a former resident of Tiburon, California, who currently resides in New York, was charged by a criminal information filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office on November 30, 2005, alleging conspiracy in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1832(a)(5) and 371.

In pleading guilty, Mr. O�Neil, 43, admitted the following:

From approximately October 2001 to July 2002, Mr. O�Neil was the Chief Executive Officer of Business Engine Software Corporation (BES), a private company that manufactured enterprise application software products and services. Mr. O�Neil was an equity owner of BES and served on its Board of Directors. BES had offices in San Francisco, Virginia Beach, New York, Chicago, and overseas. One of BES�s chief competitors was Niku Corporation (Niku), a publicly-traded company that had twenty offices in the United States and overseas including its headquarters in Redwood City, California. (Niku was acquired by Computer Associates International, Inc. earlier this year.)

Mr. O�Neil admitted that he conspired with other executives from BES to illegally access Niku's computer network and applications repeatedly over a 10-month period; to steal and download Niku�s trade secrets; and to transmit Niku�s trade secrets to other BES officers and employees to enable BES to secure a competitive advantage over its direct competitor, Niku.

For more information regarding Mr. McKimmey, please see the press release here

The maximum statutory penalty for a violation of 18 U.S.C. � 1832 is 10 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the Court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. � 3553. United States District Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton has scheduled the sentencing hearings for all three defendants on May 17, 2006, at 2:30 p.m.

The prosecution is the result of an investigation by agents of the FBI's computer intrusion squad, which was overseen by the U.S. Attorney's Office's Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIP) Unit. Christopher P. Sonderby, Chief of the CHIP Unit, is the Assistant U.S. Attorney prosecuting the case.

Further Information:

A copy of this press release and related court filings may be found on the U.S. Attorney�s Office�s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can

Further procedural and docket information along with electronic court filings for criminal cases filed since February 2005 are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/ (click on the link for "to retrieve documents from the court.")

Judges' calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court�s website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.

All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney�s Office should be directed to AUSA

Christopher P. Sonderby at (408) 535-5037 or [email protected]

Luke Macaulay at (415) 436-6757 or [email protected]

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