Cybercrime, computer fraud and protection of company secrets


The lawyers of Bougartchev Moyne Associés regularly advise companies that are the victims of breaches of their data processing systems, thefts of their secrets, industrial espionage and frauds committed by impersonating their chairman.
  • We defended the interests of a leading insurance company in connection with acts of extortion and malicious messages that were sent by a real estate agent with whom the insurer had had a business relationship before terminating it.
  • We defended the interests of a French firm in the mining sector that was the victim of a breach of trust committed by an employee for the benefit of one of its commercial partners, consisting in the misappropriation of the victim’s know-how for the purpose of developing a major commercial project in Asia.
  • We defended the interests of a leading industrial group in connection with a matter submitted to the French Data Protection Agency (CNIL) following the collection and internal disclosure of sensitive corporate information due to a computer bug.
  • We defended the interests of an international industrial group that was the victim of bribery by one of its employees, who subsequently misappropriated confidential information about certain of its products.
  • We defended the interests of one of the leading car manufacturers worldwide which was prosecuted before the Paris High Court on the grounds of concealment of breach of trust due to the alleged misappropriation of a software application’s structural data and information and concealment thereof.
  • We defended the interests of a leading aircraft manufacturer that was the victim of a theft at one of its sites, which was secured, protected by an enclosure and to which access was strictly regulated and required authorisation.
  • We defended the interests of a defence group following a search conducted on the premises of its representation office in Greece.
  • We defended the interests of an insurance company in connection with a criminal investigation initiated on the grounds of fraudulently accessing and remaining on a data processing system, fraudulently altering data in a data processing system, forgery and use of forged documents, falsification of cheques, use of falsified cheques, fraud, concealment, laundering the proceeds of these offences and aiding and abetting, which had been committed by two former employees. All assets of the perpetrators were seized, and their convictions have become final.
  • We defended the interests of a leading insurance company in connection with a criminal investigation initiated on the grounds of fraudulently accessing and remaining on a data processing system, fraudulently altering data in a data processing system, forgery and use of forged documents, falsification of cheques, use and acceptance of falsified cheques, fraud, concealment and laundering the proceeds of these offences, which had been committed by an employee. All assets of the perpetrators were seized, and they were convicted at first instance (appeal pending).
  • We defended the interests of an insurance company that was the victim of various acts of embezzlement of funds by inputting fraudulent data into a data processing system and altering data in said system. This case led to an international ring being dismantled, and the perpetrators were identified, extradited from various African countries and convicted at first instance (appeal pending).
  • We defended the interests of a leading energy company that was the victim of several attempted frauds by impersonating its chairman, in particular by using IT resources.
  • We defended the interests of an insurance company that was the victim of several instances of embezzlement of funds by employees who fraudulently altered data in a data processing system before said embezzlements.
  • We defended the interests of a private bank that was the victim of an attempted fraud of €110 million perpetrated by inputting fraudulent data into its data processing system (changing the final payees of six SWIFT transfer orders to an international criminal organisation), and obtained the conviction of the perpetrators.
  • We defended the interests of an air transport company that was the victim of a usurpation of identity and an attempted fraud using IT resources (false LinkedIn profiles, cybersquatting, etc.).
  • We defended the interests of a leading armaments company that was the victim of several attempted frauds by impersonating its chairman.
  • We defended the interests of a leading geosciences company that was the victim of several usurpations of identity and attempted frauds by impersonating its chairman, in particular by using IT resources.
  • We defended the interests of a subsidiary of a multinational in the energy sector that was the victim of industrial espionage by two foreign citizens.
  • We defended the interests of a leading armaments company, in France and several regions of the world (Latin America, Asia, Oceania), that was the victim of a theft of confidential documents that constituted breach of trust and concealment of said offence.
  • We provided legal advice to a leading insurance company following discovery of a vulnerability in its IT system that led to irregularities in the taxation of the redemptions of life insurance contracts.
  • We defended the interests of a leading armaments company that was the victim of various breaches of trust committed by an employee who disclosed confidential financial information to the press without prior authorisation.
  • We participated in the defence of the interests of an automobile equipment manufacturer in connection with a criminal investigation initiated on the grounds of forgery and use of forged documents, publication of inaccurate financial statements, fraud and inputting fraudulent data into a data processing system, concealment and aiding and abetting, which were committed against it in connection with an acquisition transaction, and obtained the final conviction of the perpetrators of the fraud.
  • We obtained a landmark decision from the Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation that expanded property damage to include all intangible property that may be appropriated, including all audio-visual recordings.
  • We defended the interests of an armaments company whose IT equipment was misappropriated for purpose of storing illicit data.
  • We defended the interests of two leading companies in the energy sector following the inputting and exchanging of illicit data in their respective data processing systems, which led to a major temporary unavailability of said systems.
  • We defended the interests of worldwide energy leader whose IT equipment was misappropriated for purpose of storing illegal data.
  • We provided advice to a worldwide energy leader on the disclosure of classified data.
  • We provided advice to a leading aircraft manufacturer on the disclosure of classified data.
  • We provided advice to a leading armaments company on the disclosure of classified data.