Plaintiff Seeks TRO vs. Apple to Disable His Stolen Email Account After Jan. 30 Hack

John Does stole an Apple email account that Keyvan Samini had controlled and used for more than 12 years, alleged his complaint Tuesday (docket 8:24-cv-00249) against Apple and John Does 1-10 in U.S. District Court for Central California in Santa Ana. Samini alleges Apple has contributed to the harm he has suffered by not doing what it could within its "technological ability" to rectify the harm.

Samini, chief financial officer and acting general counsel of Mobix Labs, asserts that within three hours of a Jan. 30 company news release announcing that Mobix had begun delivering parts used in the Navy’s Tomahawk cruise missile, his email account was “'hacked’ or otherwise stolen” by John Does, said the complaint. Only Samini has a right to access or control the information contained in the account, including the ksamini@me.com and ksamini@icloud.com email addresses, it said. The news release doesn’t contain either email address.

Samini “is informed and believes” that all email accounts with the suffix “me.com” are operated by defendant Apple, and he also believes Apple has the “technological ability to disable the account” or to reassign it to Samini, “provide reports about activity within the account and to otherwise exercise technological control of that account,” the complaint said. Apple advised Samini its legal team handles such inquiries but as of Tuesday, when he filed the complaint, Apple’s legal department “has not offered any solution,” Samini said.

Within two hours of learning about unauthorized access to his email account, Samini contacted Apple to inform the company about “the unauthorized access and control” purportedly perpetrated by John Does, the complaint said. Samini has contacted Apple multiple times since but “has been unable to obtain an agreement from the company to “a) inactivate the account; b) to send him records about what activities have been undertaken within the account; c) to provide him with access to restore his use of the account,” the complaint said.

Samini was alerted to unauthorized use of the email account “for the purpose of disseminating information, contained within the Email Account, to third-parties and/or for the purpose of 'phishing’ for information from third-parties,” said the complaint. “This is not a case where John Does” have “simply obtained access to private data and communications,” it said: “John Does are engaged in active misuse of the account for unknown nefarious purposes.”

The plaintiff doesn’t hold any security clearances with the U.S. government, the complaint said, “and does not believe that there is any material, within the files of the Email Address, which would contain specifically classified material.” Some of Mobix’s products are “subject to restrictions under ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations which controls the export and import of defense-related articles and services on the United States Munitions List),” it said.By having control of Samini’s email address, John Does “have the ability to send email messages using his 'authentic’ email," which “might induce others to take actions which could result in the disclosure of information or which could result in others taking actions to compromise money, trade secrets or other valuable items,” it said.

Samini believes John Does are guilty of fraud, oppression and malice due to their unauthorized access to his email account, the complaint said. He believes the hacking of his email account was done with the intent of injuring him, it said.

Samini’s claims include violation of 18 U.S.C. section 1030, fraud and related activity in connection with computers, plus violation of the California Penal Code, invasion of privacy and a declaratory judgment against Apple. He seeks general and special damages of no less than $5,000; punitive damages; preliminary and permanent injunctions prohibiting defendants from accessing and disclosing confidential information obtained from his email account; a declaratory judgment that he is entitled to control of his email account; a temporary restraining order vs. Apple to disable all access to his email account and provide logs explaining changes made to it; and attorneys’ fees, costs, and interest. Apple didn't comment Wednesday.