Microsoft manager facing charges died of poisoning
By MATTHEW CRAFT
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
A Microsoft manager accused of stealing $9 million in software to fuel a lavish lifestyle died from drinking antifreeze, according to the King County Medical Examiner's Office.
Daniel Feussner died Feb. 7 from ingesting ethylene glycol, the main ingredient in antifreeze, according to the Medical Examiner's Office. How it happened is unknown; there were no witnesses to his death.
Feussner was a German citizen, a computer whiz kid with a doctorate in mathematics and computer linguistics who lived in Sammamish. He worked on technology for Internet search engines and directed one of Microsoft's high-profile .NET projects.
Federal prosecutors said he ordered software for a project and then sold it on the street. The proceeds allegedly helped him pay for a small fleet of cars -- including a Ferrari 355 Berlinetta, a Jaguar Vanden Plas and a Humvee -- diamond rings and a 51-foot yacht dubbed the Brazilian Queen. Feussner exhibited many of his expensive possessions on his Web site, which has been taken down.
Feussner was arrested at Microsoft's Redmond campus in December on a federal complaint listing 15 counts of wire, mail and computer fraud. The morning of his arrest, neighbors watched FBI agents haul boxes of personal items and computer equipment from his home and seize his car collection.
A judge released him on a $100,000 bond almost two weeks later, on the condition that he remain electronically monitored at home.
Federal prosecutors dropped the case against him after his death.
