Oceanside man admits selling fake Microsoft software

By: Staff, City News Network

A North County resident and a Chicago-area man who admitted selling $500,000 worth of counterfeit Microsoft software over the Internet were both sentenced today to federal prison terms.

Steven Stoyanoff, 43, of Oceanside was sentenced to 15 months behind bars on his conviction for trafficking in counterfeit goods.

Michael Swedlow, also 43, was sentenced to eight months in prison, followed by eight months of home detention.

Both defendants were ordered to pay restitution of $590,762 to Microsoft and their Internet customers, forfeit $500,000 and pay a fine of $5,000 fine each, said prosecutor Melanie K. Pierson.

Stoyanoff and Swedlow admitted selling the counterfeit Microsoft software between July 2005 and March 2009 and wiring money to China as payment for counterfeit software, including Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2003.

Prosecutors said the defendants then sold the counterfeit software over the Internet, using the company names Wireless Now Computers and Whitebox Computers, and mailed the software to customers throughout the United States, falsely representing that the software was genuine.