Oct 27 (Reuters) – The top of a Michigan election software program firm going through felony fees in California for allegedly storing ballot employee knowledge in China filed a movement on Thursday to dismiss the case, arguing the alleged conduct, even when true, is just not felony.

Eugene Yu, founder and CEO of Konnech Inc, has been accused of violating the corporate’s contract with Los Angeles County, which restricts the sharing of election employees’ private info to residents and everlasting residents inside the USA. He was charged with grand theft by embezzlement and conspiracy to commit a criminal offense.

Yu’s arrest earlier this month has been hailed by some right-wing organizations targeted on voter fraud as a vindication of their warnings concerning the vulnerability of U.S. election techniques, together with to hacking by abroad adversaries.

The Los Angeles District Lawyer’s Workplace, which introduced the fees, has mentioned the investigation was triggered by a criticism from Gregg Phillips of True the Vote, a Texas nonprofit and outstanding purveyor of debunked voter-fraud claims.

In a submitting to the Superior Courtroom of California, County of Los Angeles, Yu’s legal professionals requested for the criticism to be dismissed, arguing that prosecutors had wrongly sought to criminalize a run-of-the-mill contract dispute.

“This can be a deeply misguided prosecution,” attorneys Gary Lincenberg, Thomas Reichert, and Alexis Wiseley wrote. “This can be a civil breach of contract case that has been dressed up in a dressing up that does not match.”

The spokesman for the district legal professional declined to touch upon a pending movement.

The submitting is the most recent growth in a months-long saga between Konnech, a small firm of about 20 folks which makes software program to handle payroll and scheduling for pollworkers, and the principals of True the Vote.

Phillips and Catherine Engelbrecht, founding father of the group, have made a collection of incendiary claims about Konnech and Yu. They alleged the corporate was holding delicate private info on some 1.8 million ballot employees on a server in China, and accused Yu, who immigrated to the U.S. many years in the past, of being a Chinese language operative.

Konnech has mentioned the allegations are false and final month it sued Phillips, Engelbrecht and the group for defamation.

That case is enjoying out in a federal court docket in Texas, with a listening to scheduled on Thursday on whether or not Phillips and Engelbrecht needs to be held in contempt for not complying with a short lived restraining order put in place final month.

Legal professionals for Phillips and Engelbrecht didn’t reply to a request for remark.

reporting by Nathan Layne
Modifying by Chris Reese

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