Priceless Documents

A man using the code name “Cagliostro” was arrested last week by the F.B.I. for trying to sell confidential MasterCard documents to VISA. The New York catering company employee tried to sell VISA documents regarding a major alliance between Disney and MasterCard. The employee, who worked as a waiter in MasterCard’s corporate dining room, reportedly attempted to sell the sensitive documents for $100,000. The temporary employee, who was hired by the catering firm Flik International, also offered to sell VISA other confidential MasterCard documents. VISA reported the theft to the F.B.I. which in turn used an undercover agent posing as a VISA executive to negotiate the purchase of the stolen materials. The man, Fausto Estrada, was charged with crimes under the 1996 Economic Espionage Act. According to the New York Times, Estrada included his own return address on all but one of his letters to VISA, as well as to the F.B.I. agent who posed as a VISA executive. In negotiating with the undercover agent, he also used a cellular phone belonging to a woman identified as his girlfriend. Court documents also showed that in a telephone conversation with the F.B.I. agent, Mr. Estrada also offered budget and profit-margin information that he called “very unique” and insisted that any payments be made in cash “because I do not pay taxes.”