United States v. Brown

68 F. Supp. 3d 783, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 160543, 2014 WL 5846382
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Tennessee
DecidedNovember 12, 2014
DocketNo. 3:13-00118
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 68 F. Supp. 3d 783 (United States v. Brown) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Brown, 68 F. Supp. 3d 783, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 160543, 2014 WL 5846382 (M.D. Tenn. 2014).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

KEVIN H. SHARP, District Judge.

Defendant Michael Mancil Brown’s Motion to Suppress Evidence, which incorporates a request for a hearing pursuant to Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154, 98 S.Ct. 2674, 57 L.Ed.2d 667 (1978), has seemingly taken on a life of its own. Ten briefs totaling more than 175 pages have been submitted, three of which were filed after this Court heard oral arguments on the motion, and the last of which was filed on October 15, 2014. For the reasons that follow, Defendant’s Motion will be denied.

I. BACKGROUND

On June 26, 2013, a federal grand jury returned a twelve-count Indictment against Defendant. The first six counts allege wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2 & 1343; the last six counts allege violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2 & 1952(a)(3) for using a facility of interstate commerce to carry on an unlawful activity, specifically extortion. All concern an alleged scheme to defraud in relation to the threatened release of tax returns for 2012 Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney that were allegedly purloined from the computer system of accounting firm Pricewater-houseCoopers.

The Indictment followed the search of Defendant’s residence pursuant to a warrant. That warrant, signed by Magistrate Judge Griffin, was based upon a 36-page affidavit from Secret Service Agent Matt Stephenson. Because that warrant is at the center of the pending Motion, the Court discusses it is some detail. Except where otherwise noted, the following is drawn from the affidavit.

Fully half of the warrant affidavit deals with a prior investigation of Defendant by [786]*786the Secret Service. The events leading to the investigation began on October 27, 2009, when a local television reporter contacted “Insurance Company A,” and told the company that he had been contacted by a man named Michael Brown who said he was in possession of the insurance company’s customer data. The reporter also allegedly reported that Brown claimed to be a “Good Samaritan” who was trying to inform the company of certain vulnerabilities in its computer system and went to the media after the company ignored his entreaties about the problem.

That same day, Brown allegedly phoned an employee in the public relations section of the insurance company and told him that he had obtained access to customer information through a vulnerability in the computer system and that he had a database of information for approximately 2,000 customer, including their social security numbers. That call was followed by an e-mail from the address “Michaels <kinghtmb@kighttmb.dyndns.org>”, which attached a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet containing 2,200 rows of customer data. The accompanying text was signed, “Thanks, Michael.”

On November 2, 2009, the head of information technology for Insurance Company A spoke with Brown about how he had come into possession of the data and was informed that, while assisting an Insurance Company A employee named “Liz” with a computer problem at the Sommet Center, he (Brown) discovered that access could be gained to the customer database by copying a webpage address for Insurance Company A from Liz’s computer and then pasting that address into the web browser of his own computer! Brown stated that he had attempted to contact Insurance Company A about the problem, but, when he received no response, he contacted the local news media.

By early November 2009, the Secret Service had been brought into the matter. On November 3, 2009, outside legal counsel for Insurance Company A informed Secret Service Agent Lee Eaves that a database of information given to the company by Brown contained the names and addresses or approximately 2,100 customers, that Brown said he.got the information off of Liz’s computer, that Insurance Company A could identify no such named employee at the Sommet Center, that Brown had previously been an Insurance Company A customer and his agent was Insurance Agent B, and that Insurance Agent B had resigned from the company after he was confronted with alleged wrongdoing. Counsel also told Agent Eaves that there were an inordinate amount of transactions relating to Agent B’s account through Internet Protocol (“IP”) address 75.146.8.201.

That same day, Agent Eaves learned the IP address was assigned to Endless Sphere Technologies at 107 Cadet Circle, Franklin, Tennessee, which (Agent Eaves later learned) was Defendant’s residence. He also discovered that Endless Sphere was Brown’s company and that it claimed to provide wireless internet services, including web and e-mail hosting.

The following day, Agent Eves contacted the Franklin Police Department to learn if it had received any complaints about Brown. He was informed that a complaint had been made by Brown’s ex-girlfriend, alleging Brown had accessed her bank account and transferred $500 to a PayPal account.

Agent Eaves secured a search warrant for Brown’s residence. The warrant was executed on November 18, 2009, at which time Agent Eaves interviewed Brown. Brown stated that in April or May 2009, he had been approached by Agent B who said that he was leaving Insurance Company A [787]*787and wanted the list of Insurance Company A’s customers so that he could use it to call on them when he moved to another insurance company. Brown later agreed to download the list for $400. Utilizing Agent B’s username and password, Brown downloaded the information on his personal computer at his residence.

Brown continued by stating that, in the latter part of July 2009, he gave Agent B the list (stored on a compact disc), but was only given $250, instead of $400 as agreed. Sometime later, Brown saw a news story about an individual being arrested for unauthorized access to a computer system and he became concerned that he could be held criminally liable. Brown claimed that he tried to contact Insurance Company A on numerous occasions to tell them what-happened, but received no response. It was then that he contacted a television news reporter, giving the reporter a false description of how he had come into possession of the customer list.

Brown went on to say that he kept the customer records from Insurance Company A in a folder on his personal computer. He claimed, however, that he had removed the social security numbers from the data and retained only the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of the customers.

At Agent Eaves’ request; Brown met with Agent B on two separate occasions. Both times, Brown wore a wire. Both times, Insurance Agent B made incriminating statements.

Forensic examinations of Brown’s personal computer and the CD he had given to Insurance Agent B (but subsequently retrieved) revealed four Microsoft Excel spreadsheet files containing far more than the claimed 2,000 names, addresses and telephone numbers. The “Belle Meade-Forest Hills” file contained approximately 1,800 listings; the “Bellevue” file approximately 2,100; the “Brentwood” file approximately 5,000 listing; and the “Franklin” file approximately 8,700.

After a search of Insurance Agent B’s office, he was interviewed by Agent Eaves.

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327 F. Supp. 3d 1079 (M.D. Tennessee, 2018)

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Bluebook (online)
68 F. Supp. 3d 783, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 160543, 2014 WL 5846382, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-brown-tnmd-2014.