Man tried to sell secrets to Israel, court told

An employee of a US tech company has been arrested and charged in federal court with stealing trade secrets and attempting to apparently sell them to Israel.

An employee of a US tech company was arrested and charged in federal court today with stealing trade secrets and attempting to apparently sell them to Israel, according to court documents.

Elliot Doxer, 42, reached out to a foreign country's consulate in Boston saying he was "willing to provide any information he had access to", said the court filings. "I am a Jewish American who lives in Boston. I know you are always looking for information and I am offering the little I may have," Mr Doxer allegedly wrote, according to an affidavit presented by the FBI agent who interacted with him.

In later communication, Mr Doxer said his main aim "was to help our homeland and our war against our enemies", and allegedly asked for $3,000 in return "for the risks he was taking", officials said. The foreign country, apparently Israel, cooperated with the US investigation, the Justice Department said in a statement though it only referred to it as "Country X".

The complaint alleged Mr Doxer visited a "dead drop" where he could exchange written communication with the undercover FBI agent at least 62 times between September 2007 through March 2009.

He allegedly passed on a list of customers for the company Akamai Technologies Inc, which provides Internet content delivery services and where Mr Doxer worked in the finance department. He also allegedly gave to the agent some contracts between Akamai and its customers, a comprehensive list of employees, and described the company's computer security systems.

Charged with one count of wire fraud, Mr Doxer, if convicted, faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, officials said.