Ermenildo Castro, a software engineer at Zulily, stole over $300,000 from his employer via a “series of malicious software edits,” inspired in part by the film Office Space (which, no joke, was itself spoofing the plot of Superman III). While those who have seen Office Space may recognize the risks and other shortcomings of the ploy, Mr. Castro likely did not watch the entire movie. While the characters in Office Space were ultimately spared by a workplace fire that destroyed all evidence of their activities, Mr. Castro named his plan “OfficeSpace project” on his work laptop. In a final twist, he lost most if not all of the money betting on GameStop in the now famous 2021 “pump and dump” scheme.
