Computer Whiz Admits He Planned to Sell to Soviets

A computer whiz has pleaded guilty to conspiring to sell $4 million in stolen supercomputer technology to the Soviet Union.

Kevin Anderson of Fremont admitted in federal court Thursday that he took part in a scheme with three other people to sell the Soviets plans to a system that allows computers to process as many as 1 billion instructions per second.

The technology had a restricted rather than classified status but could have proved damaging to U.S. security if the Soviets had received it, according to the government.

The deal was broken up by government agents who infiltrated the scheme, U.S. Atty. Joseph Russoniello said when arrests were made last year.

Export Law Violation

Anderson pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate export laws and wire fraud, based on his use of the telephone to defraud Saxpy Computer Corp. of Sunnyvale, from which the plans were stolen.

In exchange, prosecutors dropped about a dozen other charges against Anderson, a former software engineer at Synthesized Computer Systems Inc. in Santa Clara.

He faces up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $20.3 million at his sentencing on July 15.

The plea came two weeks before an extradition hearing in Canada for Charles McVey, an alleged conspirator in the scheme. He is being held in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Ivan-Pierre Batinic, an engineer who once worked for Saxpy, and his brother Stevan also were charged in the case.