Mar 22, 2024, 09:44 ET
A former Timberwolves employee is on supervised release after being arrested for allegedly stealing “NBA strategic information” from a team executive.
Former Minnesota Timberwolves employee released from prison on supervised release after being arrested and charged with felony third-degree theft for allegedly stealing thousands of internal files, including “NBA strategic information,” from a team executive, according to a court filing Thursday that was obtained by ESPN.
Somak Sarkar, 33, was released Thursday after an initial court hearing in Minnesota. As part of the conditions of his release, Sarkar cannot contact Timberwolves executive Sachin Gupta, from whom he allegedly stole information, either directly or indirectly, including through social media.
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The Timberwolves told ESPN they were aware of the allegations against their former employee and had no further comment at this time. Jim Mone/AP
Sarkar must also avoid any property owned, operated or managed by the Timberwolves, and cannot leave the state of Minnesota.
His next court date is scheduled for May 16.
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According to a criminal complaint, also obtained by ESPN, Sarkar was fired from the team in February after taking a hard drive from the Target Center office of Gupta, a Timberwolves executive vice president who oversees the team’s analytics department.
That drive contained Gupta’s personal financial information as well as private team information, including players’ employment and contracts.
Another employee was able to recover Sarkar’s hard drive and the team determined, after computer forensics, that Sarkar had accessed more than 5,000 files and downloaded them to another device.
Sarkar was arrested on Monday and police executed a search warrant at his home, where they found several hard drives, a computer and three tablets. A second warrant revealed that one of the devices contained information from Gupta’s hard drive.
When questioned by police, Sarkar said that as a member of the coaching staff, he had the hard drive “to put some things on it,” but he forgot to return it.
“There’s more to the story here,” Sarkar’s attorney, Ryan M. Pacyga, told ESPN on Thursday. “I’m not ready to publish that yet, but we are gathering more information and more will come out soon when the time is appropriate.”
The complaint stated that Sarkar had been transferred out of Gupta’s department in August 2023 and into the coaching staff due to his poor work performance.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Sarkar joined the Timberwolves in August 2021 and previously worked in analytics-related roles at the New York Knicks and New Orleans Pelicans. He also worked as a basketball operations intern for the Houston Rockets from October 2012 to June 2013.
The Timberwolves told ESPN they were aware of the allegations and had no further comment at this time. A source told ESPN that the team would not pursue criminal charges.
2024-03-22 14:01:48
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