The Minnesota Timberwolves are in the middle of a late season push to earn the No. 1 overall seed in the Western Conference playoffs for just the 2nd time in franchise history.
But off the court, they’re in the middle of an ownership change that hasn’t exactly gone smoothly, and on Wednesday, news is breaking that they are also in the middle of a criminal investigation that led to the arrest of a former employee.
Former Timberwolves employee arrested for stealing Sachin Gupta’s hard drive
According to police records obtained by KSTP (Ch. 5 Eyewitness News), former “analyst” for the Wolves, Somak Sarkar, has been charged with third-degree burglary for entering Executive Vice President, Sachin Gupta’s office at Mayo Clinic Square and stealing a hard drive that was connected to Gupta’s computer.
On the hard drive, according to KSTP’s report, was sensitive information mostly related to basketball, including “employee and player contracts, strategic information, sensitive personal data like tax returns, bank statements and investment details, as well as usernames and passwords”.
Prosecutors charged 23-year-old Somak Sarkar with third-degree burglary in connection to the incident, which allegedly happened last month.
Then, on Feb. 3, Sarkar allegedly went into Gupta’s office when nobody else was around and took a hard drive connected to Gupta’s laptop.
Josh Skluzacek – KSTP
Gupta realized that his hard drive was missing, checked security tapes, and saw Sarkar entering and leaving his office. Real criminal mastermind stuff. The alleged thief didn’t just steal the hard drive. According to police records, he opened over 5,000 files on Gupta’s drive.
Following the investigation, Sarkar was fired. Earlier this week, he was arrested after police seized Gupta’s hard drive, along with several other hard drives, tablets and a computer from his house. Court documents reportedly show that Sarkar was in the process of being moved around the organization for (pretty much) not getting along with anyone and being a bad employee.
Court documents state that Sarkar worked as an analyst for the team until he was moved to a coaching group last summer because he was “butting heads” with his boss, failing to attend meetings and submitting code incorrectly.
Josh Skluzacek – KSTP
When questioned by police regarding the hard drive he allegedly stole from the Minnesota Timberwolves Executive Vice President, Sarkar said, he took it to “put some stuff on it”, then forgot to return it. Okay…
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