‘Mole’ Seeker Charged With Defrauding Book Publisher of $50,000
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ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orlando man hired by book publisher Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc. to find a “mole” who was leaking inside information has been charged with defrauding the company of $50,000.
Timothy L. Hooper, 50, persuaded HBJ that it was the victim of an informant who was furnishing information to British publisher Robert Maxwell, who at one point was pursuing a hostile takeover, federal prosecutors say.
Hooper, who said he handled business and financial investigations, was hired to ferret out the wrongdoer. But a federal indictment charged that Hooper created the story to cheat Orlando-based HBJ.
Hooper “alleged he had inside information,” said Bruce Hinshelwood, assistant U.S. attorney in Orlando. “He provided them (HBJ) with bogus documents . . . that would supposedly lead them to one or more individuals.”
If convicted, Hooper faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Anson Franklin, a spokesman for HBJ, said the company would have no comment.
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