July 21, 2003 For more information: Greg Dinkin 619-807-1887 frank@ventureliterary.com "No Kill Date" Venture Literary Sells Identity Theft Narrative to Wiley On July 21, 2003, Greg Dinkin, representing Bob Sullivan, sold World rights to Being Bill Gates: Behind the Identity Theft Epidemic to Debra Englander at Wiley, for hardcover publication in Spring 2004. To understand the severity of this epidemic, look no farther than Attorney General John Ashcroft, who recently said that identity theft has become the fastest-growing crime in America. In Being Bill Gates, award-winning MSNBC journalist Bob Sullivan will explore the perfect storm that has created the nation’s biggest white-collar crime. The book will walk readers through several true-crime examples, including exclusive interviews with the most infamous computer criminals from around the world—from Russian hackers who extort U.S. banks with stolen data to the men who impersonated Paul Allen, Steven Spielberg, and Tiger Woods. It will explore the emotional and financial devastation of victims as they try to dig themselves out of the crime. And it will expose the chinks in the system—from the credit bureaus and credit-card issuers, which act as a shadow government on American life, to the inept government agencies that exacerbate the problem. Along the way, identity theft will be explained as the root of nearly all modern crime, including terrorism. Finally, it will explore the various incremental solutions that are being tested, and the near-heroic individual efforts being made to stop the crime, which have been redoubled since the horror of September 11, 2001. Winner of the prestigious 2002 Society of Professional Journalists Public Service Award for a series of stories he penned on online fraud, Bob Sullivan is the nation’s leading journalist covering identity theft, having authored more than a hundred articles on the subject and having made more than a hundred television appearance since 1996. Several of his individual stories have been seen by more than a million readers, according to MSNBC statistics, including his coverage of the ILOVEYOU virus in 1999, which was viewed by 3.5 million people. Sullivan frequently appears on-air as a contributor to MSNBC, CNBC, NBC Nightly News, the Today show, and various local NBC affiliates. He is a frequent speaker on consumer issues for a variety of trade and government organizations, including Consumer Reports and the National Association of Attorneys General. To learn more about Venture Literary, visit: www.ventureliterary.com To learn more about Wiley, visit: http://www.wiley.com/