Trio sentenced for $88 million phone license piracy scheme in US

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Three defendants in the US were sentenced for a $88 million business telephone system software license piracy scheme, the Justice Department said Friday.

The sentencing was part of the Avaya Holdings Corporation, a business communications company in the state of California, which sold IP Office to businesses in the US and overseas.

Customers had to purchase software licenses generated by Avaya from an authorized distributor or reseller to unlock features and functionalities of IP Office, such as voicemail or telephones.

Brad Pearce, 48, a long-time customer service employee at Avaya, used his system administrator privileges to generate tens of thousands of ADI software license keys that he sold to Jason Hines, 44, and other customers, who in turn sold them to resellers and end users around the world.

Dusti Pearce, 46, handled accounting for the illegal business.

"The retail value of each Avaya software license ranged from under $100 to thousands of dollars," according to the Justice Department.

Brad Pearce was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison and ordered to forfeit $4 million.

In June, Dusti Pearce was sentenced to one year and a day in prison and ordered to forfeit $4 million.

Hines was sentenced in July to one year and six months in prison and an additional 18 months of home confinement, and ordered to forfeit $2 million, said the statement.

"In July 2023, Hines pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. In September 2023, the Pearces also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud," it added.

In addition, the three defendants have agreed to pay restitution -- $17 million for Bradley Pearce, $10 million for Dusti Pearce and more than $5 million for Hines.