BidPrime Amends Filing for Injunction Against Business Rival

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- BidPrime, LLC, today announced it filed an amended complaint in U.S. District Court in Austin in its civil case against a Florida-based business rival alleged to have stolen trade secrets, engaged in corporate espionage, committed fraudulent acts, and violated federal and state consumer privacy and data protection laws.

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The amended complaint filed July 17 removes one named defendant but also sheds new light on the alleged cybercrimes that spurred BidPrime on June 7 to seek an injunction and damages against SmartProcure, Inc. and two of that company's top executives—CEO Jeffrey Rubenstein and sales director Marc DiGeronimo. SmartProcure also goes by the name GovSpend.

Specifically, the amended complaint strengthens the company's argument that the defendants intended then as now to inflict irreparable harm on BidPrime by using unlawful means to penetrate the company's high-value database and massively scrape its contents in order to aid the defendants' own business.

BidPrime uses proprietary software and data mining technology to gather government bids, RFPs and specifications from public sources in real-time so its clients are the first to know of new bid opportunities, according to Stephen Hetzel, chief operating officer of BidPrime.

The original complaint claims the defendants violated the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The amended complaint offers more specifics about how the hacking occurred. Additionally, the amended complaint details the costly technology steps BidPrime took after the hack was discovered in an attempt to draw off ongoing attacks.

"In our amended complaint, we describe recently uncovered proof which we believe demonstrates Mr. Rubenstein orchestrated the hacking of our database with help from an Eastern European computer expert he contacted through an Internet website," said Hetzel. "We also describe evidence showing that Mr. Rubenstein has at this same website a history of hiring offshore contractors for the purpose of finding new data sources."

Lastly, the amended complaint removes DiGeronimo as a named defendant.

BidPrime's request for a preliminary injunction against the defendants is scheduled to be heard Oct. 5 in Austin.

CONTACT
Bill Culhane
VP of Marketing
512.430.4242
[email protected]

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SOURCE BidPrime

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