Software CEO arrested for stealing data from California poll workers

On Wednesday, The Daily Beast reported that the CEO of an elections software firm has been arrested and charged with stealing information from poll workers in Los Angeles County, California.

"Eugene Yu, the founder and top executive of Konnech, was detained in Michigan over the alleged theft of personal identifying information, while investigators also seized hard drives and other 'digital evidence,'" reported Dan Ladden-Hall. "In 2020, Konnech won a five-year contract with LA County for software designed to track election workers’ schedules, payroll, training, and communications, county clerk Dean C. Logan said."

Prior to his arrest, Yu had been forced to go into hiding due to racist threats from supporters of former President Donald Trump, who believed that he was attempting to rig the election on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.

"Election deniers have repeatedly accused Konnech of storing the sensitive data on servers in China, which the company has repeatedly denied," said the report. "But the office of Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón says its investigators did find data stored in China. Officials didn’t specify what information was taken, but said it didn’t alter election results."

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There is no evidence the stolen data was sold to anyone. However, storing it outside of the country still constitutes a breach of the state contract.

This comes as Trump supporters themselves have repeatedly landed in legal jeopardy for voting data breaches of their own, as they attempt to prove baseless conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was stolen. In Colorado, Mesa County clerk Tina Peters, a close associate of MyPillow CEO and election denier Mike Lindell, was indicted for breaching voting equipment. Another Republican official in Michigan, Stephanie Scott, could face similar charges for compromising secure voter files.