Scot faces 20 years’ jail for deleting emails in US
A SCOT is facing up to 20 years in prison in the US for obstructing a criminal investigation into a youth football organisation.
Gavin MacPhee, 35, was a senior figure at Global Premier Soccer (GPS), a player development academy based in Waltham, Massachusetts.
He deleted an email account and other files after a federal investigation was launched into a colleague at the company last year.
The probe concerns allegations of poor working conditions and immigration paperwork irregularities for coaches coming from abroad.
MacPhee, originally of Rothes, Moray, coached players at GPS and was also marketing director and general manager of its Rhode Island franchise. He was charged in
March and this week appeared at a court in Boston where he pleaded guilty to one count of destruction, alteration or falsification of records.
The maximum sentence for the offence is 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. He is due to be sentenced in September.
The court heard MacPhee began working for GPS in 2007 and in his role as marketing director had ‘the ability to create and delete email accounts for employees’.
The federal investigation into visas for foreign workers at GPS, which is still ongoing, involves the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor.
A laptop belonging to an employee of the organisation, referred to as Individual One, was seized in a raid on its headquarters in October last year. The court papers state: ‘MacPhee knew agents were interested in, and had seized, Individual One’s computer. On or about December 3, 2019, Individual One emailed MacPhee asking whether MacPhee could delete his email account. That same day, MacPhee responded that he could.
‘On or about December 5, 2019, during an in-person meeting with MacPhee, Individual One once again requested that MacPhee delete Individual One’s email account. During that meeting MacPhee permanently deleted [the] email account.’
GPS, which was set up in 2001, offers coaching programmes to youth footballers and operates in 22 US states.
A statement from the US Department of Justice said: ‘A Scottish man who was previously employed by Global Premier Soccer LLC, a youth soccer organisation, pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to obstructing justice.
‘Gavin MacPhee pleaded guilty to one count of destruction, alteration or falsification of records in a federal investigation.’
When contacted at their home, MacPhee’s parents declined to comment on the case.
‘Falsification of records’