Federal Jury Convicts Alexandria Man for Deleting U.S. Government Databases

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A federal jury convicted Sohaib Akhter, 34, of Alexandria, on May 7 on charges relating to the deletion of U.S. government databases, the Department of Justice announced.

The conviction covers Akhter's direct role in removing data from at least two distinct federal databases maintained by U.S. government agencies. The Eastern District of Virginia, which handles a high volume of national security and cyber cases tied to the Washington metropolitan area, was the venue for the trial.

The operational delta is now fixed: prior to the verdict the databases' integrity was under active litigation with uncertainty over criminal liability; the unanimous jury finding establishes that the deletions constituted federal offenses. Sentencing has not been scheduled but will occur under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines that apply to computer fraud and abuse, destruction of government property, and related statutes cited in the indictment.

Downstream consequences are immediate. The Bureau of Prisons and the U.S. Probation Office must now prepare presentence investigation reports that factor in the volume of deleted records and any restitution owed to the affected agencies. The conviction also requires the Justice Department to notify any interagency partners whose databases were compromised so they can complete mandatory incident reporting under the Federal Information Security Modernization Act.

In addition, the verdict activates internal review processes at the victim agencies to determine whether access-control policies for contractors or employees with database privileges need revision before the next federal audit cycle.

This is the latest in a series of federal prosecutions for insider data tampering. The original charges against Akhter were brought under statutes that have been used in prior Eastern District cases involving former federal employees and contractors who altered or erased government records.

Congress has separately required annual reporting on data-breach incidents across the executive branch, a requirement that will now include the specifics of the Akhter case once sentencing is complete.

The Justice Department press release issued May 7 contains the sole official account of the verdict.