NEW YORK (AP) -- A law student who pleaded guilty to trying to sell stolen anti-tobacco trial plans to lawyers representing tobacco companies has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in federal prison, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Said Farraj, 28, pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to commit fraud, to interstate transportation of stolen property and to unauthorized access of a computer, the U.S. attorney's office said in a news release. Farraj and his brother, Yeazid Farraj, were accused in June 2000 of stealing anti-tobacco lawyers' 400-page trial plan and trying to peddle it through e-mail to defense attorneys for Philip Morris (news/quote) Inc. and other companies. Yeazid Farraj pleaded guilty to conspiracy for his role in the scheme and is scheduled to be sentenced in April. Said Farraj worked as a paralegal for the law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, which represented a trust that has sued Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and others, alleging they contributed to asbestos-related illnesses, court papers said. According to the indictment, Said Farraj secretly downloaded a copy of the trial plan, which described strategy and contained depositions and court exhibits. Using the computer alias FlyGuy, Said Farraj e-mailed the attorneys for the defendants and offered to sell the plan, prosecutors said. The defense lawyers immediately notified the plaintiffs, who contacted the FBI. There was no telephone number listed for the Farraj brothers' New York City home.

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