Fired Wolves employee charged with stealing 'strategic NBA information' from team exec

Somak Sarkar has since been released from custody after his arrest Monday.

Sachin Gupta, the head of the Wolves' analytics department, had over 5,000 files of sensitive team data stolen last month by an employee who has since been fired, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday.

A hard drive from Gupta's Target Center office was stolen last month. The hard drive contained Timberwolves business information including "employment and player contracts, as well as strategic NBA information."

Personal information like Gupta's Social Security number, tax information and bank account information was also on the hard drive, according to the complaint.

After learning of the hard drive's disappearance, the Timberwolves fired Somak Sarkar, 33, of Minneapolis, who was a member of the team's coaching staff. 

Hennepin County Jail

According to his LinkedIn profile, Sarkar had been a coaching analyst with the Timberwolves since August 2021. He previously spent a year as a coordinator of coaching analytics with the New York Knicks after seven years with the New Orleans Pelicans as manager of basketball analytics.

His first listed role within an NBA organization came in October 2012, when he was a basketball operations intern for the Houston Rockets.

The complaint alleges that video surveillance recorded Sarkar entering Gupta's closed office two on the evening of Feb. 3, after looking around to see if anyone could see him.

Upon return of the device, the team had the hard drive sent to a computer forensic company for analysis whereupon they determined over 5,000 files had been accessed and downloaded to another device.

Officers obtained a search warrant for Sarkar's home, where they found several hard drives, USBs, a computer and three tablets. It was allegedly later discovered that one of Sarkar's devices contained all the stolen information from Gupta's hard drive.

When questioned by police, Sarkar allegedly said he had the hard drive "put some stuff on it" and forgot to return it.

According to the court document, Sarkar used to work in the unit under Gupta's supervision until August 2023, when he was transferred to the coaching staff due to job performance.

Sarkar remains jailed after being arrested Monday and charged in Hennepin County District Court with felony 3rd-degree burglary. He has a court appearance set for Thursday afternoon.