A US district court judge has sentenced a former Microsoft employee to three months in prison for stealing company trade secrets.
Alex Kibkalo, a Russian national and seven-year employee of the tech giant, plead guilty to one count of stealing trade secrets.
Kibkalo stole the information and released it to an unknown technology blogger, who then released the company software code online. Although he originally faced up to 10 years in prison and a fine as high as US$250,000, in April he and federal prosecutors came to an agreement for a penalty consisting of a three-month prison term and a fine of US$22,500.
While Kibkalo will serve the time in jail, the judgement did not list a restitution amount, according to a report by The Seattle Times.
