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from Newsday (New York, NY) on Wednesday, February 12, 2003

Mayor Michael Bloomberg came to court yesterday as the outraged CEO, describing an alleged cyber-shakedown by two men from Kazakhstan who demanded money or threatened to expose weaknesses in his multibillion-dollar corporation's computer system.

Although he was on the stand for only about 90 minutes (with just 15 minutes of direct questioning by the government's prosecutor), Bloomberg was the star witness against defendant Oleg Zezev, 29.

The boyish computer technician with a cowlick from Almaty, Kazakhstan, is accused of hacking into Bloomberg, LP computer systems in 2000 and attempting to extort $200,000 from Bloomberg. Defense lawyer Robert Baum has argued that Zezev had uncovered a bug in Bloomberg software and was merely attempting to sell executives his computer acumen.

Bloomberg testified that from the moment he opened an e-mail from an individual named "Alex" on March 24, 2000, he felt threatened.

"It certainly gave me pause to think that we had been attacked by a computer hacker," Bloomberg said. "There was an implied threat that if we didn't give money that they would try to ruin our reputation. I am not an expert on what extortion is. At that point, I just called the police."

For months, Bloomberg and "Alex" communicated via e-mail under the FBI's watch. Finally, on Aug. 10, 2000, the FBI and Scotland Yard set up a meeting at London's Park Lane Hotel in which Bloomberg met Zezev and a co-defendant, Igor Yarimaka. Both were arrested later that day.

Bloomberg testified he viewed the break-in as an incursion into the sanctity of his computer system, which at the time had 143,000 clients worldwide. He likened Zezev to a burglar, adding, "If you start down the path of paying when you shouldn't and caving into extortionists, they never stop."

Under cross-examination, Bloomberg conceded that he had sent e-mails scripted by the FBI promising "Alex" some kind of compensation for his expertise and that he had been the first to name the $200,000 figure.

After court, Bloomberg downplayed his role working with the FBI, saying, "It wasn't exactly James Bond, but if you characterize it that way, there's a lot of similarities between Sean Connery and myself."

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