A 34-year-old Virginia man has been found guilty of conspiring to destroy dozens of government databases after he was fired from his job as a federal contractor.
Sohaib Akhter and his twin brother, Muneeb Akhter, had previously served prison sentences after pleading guilty in 2016 to accessing U.S. State Department systems without permission and stealing personal information belonging to co-workers and a federal law enforcement agent investigating their crimes.
After completing their sentences, the brothers were later rehired as government contractors by a company that worked with more than 45 federal agencies and hosted government data on servers in Ashburn, Virginia.
According to the Justice Department, the company discovered Sohaib Akhter’s felony conviction and terminated both brothers during a remote meeting on February 18, 2025. Prosecutors said the brothers immediately tried to harm their former employer and its government customers by accessing computers without authorization, write-protecting databases, deleting data, and attempting to hide evidence of their actions.
In November 2025, both brothers were charged again with destruction of records, aggravated identity theft, computer fraud, and theft of government information.
Court documents say the brothers wiped around 96 government databases within several hours in February 2025. The deleted data reportedly included sensitive investigative records from several federal agencies, as well as Freedom of Information Act records. Prosecutors also said that shortly after deleting a Department of Homeland Security database, they asked an artificial intelligence assistant how to clear system logs.
Authorities said the brothers issued commands to prevent others from modifying the targeted databases before deletion, then tried to destroy evidence of what they had done. They also allegedly discussed cleaning out their home ahead of a possible law enforcement search and wiped company laptops before returning them to their employer.
FDIC-OIG Inspector General Jennifer L. Fain said the evidence at trial showed Akhter took part in unauthorized access to protected computer systems, credential theft, and the destruction of government data affecting multiple federal agencies. She said the deletion of sensitive government databases and efforts to hide the activity showed a serious disregard for the security and integrity of federal information systems.
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Sohaib Akhter is scheduled to be sentenced on September 9, 2026, and faces up to 21 years in prison. His brother, Muneeb Akhter, faces up to 45 years in prison on charges including computer fraud, conspiracy, aggravated identity theft, and theft of U.S. government records.
