Three people have been sentenced as part of an $88M pirated business telephone software license case.

The three individuals involved in the case, Raymond Bradley “Brad” Pearce, Dusti O. Pearce, and Jason M. Hines, have all been given custodial sentences.

The FBI Oklahoma City Field Office investigated the case. The Justice Department report also stated Senior Counsel Matthew A. Lamberti of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Senior Litigation Counsel Julia E. Barry for the Western District of Oklahoma prosecuted the case.

According to court documents, the three individuals committed wire fraud by procuring and selling unauthorized Avaya Direct International (ADI) software licenses. This was more commonly known as “IP Office” license to operate a purchasable communications service.

These licenses are used by many well-known companies across the country, and have, as a result of the sentencing and court action, been discontinued.

The company at the core of the court action was Avaya Holdings Corporation. It maintained a steady roll of customers domestically and internationally. Most companies were small, to mid-sized entities that bought the IP Office product.

According to the report, to use the features of the product “such as voicemail or telephones, customers had to purchase software licenses generated by Avaya from an authorized Avaya distributor or reseller. Avaya used software license keys to control access to Avaya’s copyright-protected software and to ensure that only customers who paid for the software could use it.”

To ensure there was a measure of control and to ensure that the paid service remained intact, a generated ID key was created by Avaya. This would be stored on a proprietary memory card with a serial number, which was unique to the end user.

Brad Pearce had bespoke access to code generation and the court heard that he created thousands of keys. Then he sold them to Hines and other individuals to make a profit and to ensure there was a steady stream of codes, he hijacked the accounts of other Avaya employees.

Hines owned and controlled Direct Business Services International (DBSI), based in New Jersey. Hines gained millions in resales of the illegally created codes for telecommunications services.

As a trifecta, the Pearces and Hines made millions and traded the ill-gotten gains via bank accounts and a shell PayPal. They also made physical purchases like gold bullion to convert the illegally gained cash.

Raymond Bradley “Brad” Pearce was given four years in prison and ordered to forfeit $4 million. Dusti O. Pearce was also sentenced to one year in prison and was forced to forfeit $4 million. Hines was sentenced to one year and six months in prison and an additional 18 months of home confinement and ordered to forfeit $2 million.

All three individuals have agreed to pay, according to the report, “$17 million for Brad Pearce, $10 million for Dusti Pearce, and more than $5 million for Hines. The court will hold a separate restitution hearing in a few weeks to determine the details of the restitution order.”