Quadsys quintet court date delayed

Fraud case against MD Paul Cox and four other Quadsys employees adjourned until later this month

The sentencing of the five Quadsys employees due in court this week on fraud charges has been adjourned until 29 September.

Quadsys' managing director Paul Cox was arrested in March 2015 alongside Alistair Barnard, Jon Townsend, Steve Davies and Paul Streeter at the Quadsys offices.

The five were then charged with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation by Thames Valley Police in August 2015 and released on bail, with Cox also being charged for blackmail.

The case was due for a plea hearing in January but it was rescheduled until March because the defence was not ready in time.

They entered a ‘not guilty' plea on 17 March at Oxford Crown Court against a charge of "obtaining unauthorised access to computer materials with intent to commit an offence", and a second charge was added, "securing unauthorised access to computer material, contrary to section one of the computer misuse act 1990", which the five pleaded guilty to on 21 July 2016.

The five appeared in court again after the defence made an application to drop the count of unauthorised access with intent, which the judge rejected on 6 May.

Earlier this month Kaspersky ended its contract with Quadsys, but Sophos promoted the VAR to a Platinum partner in August. Sophos declined to comment.

In a statement Kaspersky said: "One of the company's key assets is its credibility in the eyes of its clients. We are committed to business ethics and adhere to the highest standards of transparency in all areas of our business and as such, we have terminated our business relationship with Quadsys."