The “Partners” statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse, at Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom, at Walt Disney World, in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, photographed Saturday, June 3, 2023.
Joe Burbank | Tribune News Service | Getty Images
A disgruntled former Disney employee is being accused of hacking into menu-creating software used by the company’s restaurants to falsely indicate that certain food items did not contain peanuts.
In a federal criminal complaint filed in the U.S District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Michael Scheuer, who had been recently terminated, is accused of knowingly causing the transmission of a program to a protected computer and intentionally causing damage without authorization.
Scheuer worked at Walt Disney World as a menu production manager. While employed at the company, Scheuer was responsible for the creation and publishing of menus for the company’s entire restaurant portfolio.
Scheuer was fired in June for alleged misconduct, the complaint says, adding that the termination was contentious and not amicable.
The criminal complaint was first reported by Court Watch.
The complaint alleges that after his firing, he continued to access the software from a personal device and over a three-month period allegedly changed menu prices and added profanity.
The complaint said these changes “were more benign” but Scheuer “also made several menu changes that threatened public health and safety” like changing the allergen information on menus. The menus were identified before they made it to the restaurants, the suit says.
“Namely, the threat actor manipulated the allergen information on menus by adding information to some allergen notifications that indicated certain menu items were safe for individuals with peanut allergies, when in fact they could be deadly to those with peanut allergies,” the complaint says.
On Sept. 23, federal agents searched Scheuer’s home and seized four personal computers, according to the criminal complaint. Scheuer denied any wrongdoing and accused Disney of trying to frame him “because they were worried about him and the conditions under which he was terminated,” the complaint states.
He allegedly did admit to using his personal Google Chrome profile to conduct work when he was employed, according to the complaint. He was unable to say whether he accessed Disney’s systems after he was terminated because he believed he may have used it for things including paystubs and financial information.
Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
David Haas, an attorney for Scheuer said: “The allegations acknowledge that no one was injured or harmed. I look forward to vigorously presenting my client’s side of the story.” He added that Scheuer “has a disability that he believes impacted his termination from Disney.”
“Disney failed to respond to his inquiries about being fired and he then filed an EEOC complaint in response,” Haas said.
