Massachusetts man pleads guilty to economic espionage

A Brookline, Mass., man has agreed to plead guilty to foreign economic espionage for providing trade secrets to an undercover FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence official, the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Carmen Ortiz announced Friday.

Elliot Doxer, 42, a former employee with Akamai Technologies, pled guilty to providing Akamai trade secrets over the course of 18 months.

Doxer's plea hearing is scheduled for Aug. 19. The charge of foreign economic espionage carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, a three-year term of supervised release and a $500,000 fine.

According to the FBI press release, in June 2006, Doxer "sent an email to the Israeli consulate in Boston stating that he worked in Akamai's finance department and was willing to provide any information that might help Israel."

He said in later communications that his desire "was to help our homeland and our war against our enemies," and also asked for payment.

The undercover FBI agent spoke with Doxer in Sept. 2007 and established a "dead drop" where they could exchange communications.

Doxer visited the dead drop location at least 62 times to "leave information, retrieve communications or check for new communications," between then and March 2009, the FBI press release said.

He was arrested on Oct. 6, 2010.

The U.S. Attorney's office thanked Akamai Technology and the Israeli government for help with the investigation.

"We also acknowledge the Government of Israel for their cooperation in this investigation, and underscore that the information does not allege that the Government of Israel or anyone acting on its behalf committed any offense under U.S. laws in this case," the press release on the plea deal said.