Top Secret Clearance Holder Convicted of Wire Fraud and Identity Theft

A DoD civilian employee, Kevin Lee, working for the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) pleaded guilty in a California court for stealing personal data from the agency’s Microsoft SharePoint system and then using that information to apply for loans in other people’s names. What was the motivation? Simply to pay for his personal expenses, bills and debts. He first started off by using his own family members’ identity information to apply for loans. That was very limited and probably didn’t go over very well with the family members, so he decided to use his access to the DCMA SharePoint site to obtain a bigger variety of victims to choose from. He went so far as creating false email accounts impersonating co-workers, making fake driver’s licenses, and doctoring wage and bank statements to increase the amount of money he could get when applying for these loans.

This went on for over two years before he was eventually caught. All told, when the investigation into his activities concluded it showed he had stolen identity information from 37 different individuals and was able to obtain over $240,000 in loans from various banks. On its own merits this conduct is quite egregious, but especially so due to the fact he had a Top Secret security clearance with SCI access. The DoD revoked his clearance once he was changed with these crimes. Sentencing is still pending for the wire fraud and identity theft conviction, and Lee is potentially facing up to 20 years in prison.