The chief executive of an IT services company was indicted Wednesday for duping the Securities and Exchange Commission into believing his company’s data center was certified at the highest rating level for reliability for managing sensitive government data.
Justice Department officials contend Deepak Jain created a company in Maryland called Uptime Council to inspect and audit data centers for customers including the SEC that, from 2012 through 2018, paid Jain’s company approximately $10.7 million for the use of a data center in Beltsville, Md.
The indictment claims Jain masterminded an elaborate scheme to deceive the SEC by fabricating the certificates necessary to secure the SEC contract in crucial areas such as security, cooling and power reliability — all considered indispensable for the federal agency.
During its time as a customer, the SEC said it endured persistent problems with the data center over security, power stability and cooling.
Jain faces six counts of major fraud against the U.S. and one count of making false statements. If convicted, he could receive up to 10 years in prison for each fraud charge and up to five years for making false statements.
“As alleged in the indictment, Jain orchestrated a years-long scheme to defraud the SEC by falsely certifying that his company’s data center met the highest rating level when the actual rating did not satisfy the SEC contract,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri said in a statement announcing the charges. She added that Jain aimed to benefit himself and his company at the cost of compromising SEC’s electronic data security.
Added Deborah Jeffrey, inspector general of the SEC, “This indictment demonstrates our shared commitment with the Justice Department to hold bad actors accountable for engaging in schemes to defraud the SEC that undermine the integrity and fairness of the government procurement process.”
The investigation is being conducted by the SEC Office of Inspector General.
The case comes amid a ramp-up in data centers to handle the vast amount of energy necessary to meet the extreme power demands of AI technology. In recent weeks, Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google have announced plans to invest in small modular nuclear reactors to power their ballooning data operations. Microsoft Corp. has done the same as AI data centers continue to grow and demand huge amounts of energy.