Cisco beancounters behind bars

NEWS Two former Cisco accountants were sentenced to prison yesterday for stealing millions of dollars from the company. A US district court sentenced Geoffrey Osowski and Wilson Tang to 34 months in jail for stealing nearly $8m in stock from the company in late 2000. Osowski and Tang found a weakness in Cisco's internal security and transferred almost 100,000 shares over to themselves in December 2000. The pair were also ordered to pay the difference between $7.8m in stolen stock and $5m worth of seized jewellery, cars and other luxury items the hackers bought after cashing in most of the stock.