Fired Executive Sentenced to Prison for Erasing Company Files from Work Laptop

An executive who arbitrarily deleted company files from a work laptop that was supposed to be returned after receiving a notice of dismissal has been sentenced to prison in the first trial.

According to legal circles today (September 5), the Suwon District Court sentenced an executive, identified as A, to six months in prison on charges including the destruction of electronic records, violation of the Act on Prevention of Unfair Competition and Protection of Trade Secrets (disclosure of trade secrets, etc.), and breach of trust in the course of duty.

Mr. A served as an executive overseeing an Indonesian waste-derived solid fuel production plant construction project at the victim company from March 2022 to February of the following year.

Mr. A was brought to trial on charges of arbitrarily deleting around 1,600 work-related files right before returning the laptop to the company after receiving a notice of dismissal in 2023.

During the trial, Mr. A claimed, "Ahead of leaving the company, I simply organized the folders and files I used one by one using Windows Explorer, and I had no intention of intentionally damaging them."

However, the court ruled, "Under the employment rules, documents created within the scope of duties are all company assets, and the intent to arbitrarily delete data without consulting the company upon being requested to return the laptop is recognized."

In addition, the court found Mr. A guilty of unauthorized leakage of trade secrets for copying and taking out some 60 files, including design drawings submitted to the client, onto a personal external hard drive before deleting a massive amount of files.

However, the court stated the reasons for sentencing as follows: "Mr. A was not taken into custody in court to provide an opportunity for victim recovery and settlement, and consideration was given to the fact that the defendant is elderly, has no criminal record exceeding a fine, and the scale of damage to the victim company is not excessive."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.