Kim Peretti, co-chair of the firm’s security-incident and management-response team and former senior litigator for the Justice Department’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal article, “U.S. Eyes Pushback On China .” U.S. officials view that strategy [indictment] as a way to establish a deterrent. China likely wouldn’t turn over its citizens to the U.S. for prosecution, but U.S. authorities could ensure suspects would be unable to travel freely for fear of being turned over by a foreign government to U.S. law enforcement.
“It would be very significant, because it would be a first of its kind,” said Kimberly Peretti, a former Justice Department prosecutor who handled cybercrime cases during eight years at the department until 2010. Indictments create leverage in diplomatic negotiations, because it is more difficult for the government to deny the problem when there is a specific legal action against an individual, she said.