Scottish Man Pleads Guilty to Obstruction of Justice

BOSTON – A Scottish man who was previously employed by Global Premier Soccer LLC (GPS), a youth soccer organization, pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to obstructing justice.

Gavin MacPhee, 34, pleaded guilty to one count of destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in a federal investigation. U.S. District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock scheduled sentencing for Sept. 21, 2020.

MacPhee used his access to GPS’s information technology platform to delete an email account and other files related to an ongoing criminal investigation. A search at GPS’s corporate headquarters was executed in October 2019. Thereafter, with full knowledge of the federal investigation and the relevance of those materials, MacPhee deleted at least one email account for an individual who had since left the company, and with whom he had a close relationship. 

The charging statute provides for a sentence of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Michael Shea, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; Michael Mikulka, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigation, New York Regional Office; and William B. Gannon, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security Service, Boston Field Office made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was also provided by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, Fraud Detection and National Security Unit. HSI’s Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force, a specialized investigative group comprised of various local, state and federal agencies, conducted this investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordi de Llano, Deputy Chief of Lelling’s Securities and Financial Fraud Unit, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mackenzie Queenin of Lelling’s Cybercrime Unit are prosecuting the case.