Twin Brothers Deleted 96 Government Databases Literally ‘Minutes’ After Being Fired
Most people spend the minutes after being fired in shock, clearing their desks or calling a family member. Muneeb and Sohaib Akhter, 34-year-old twin brothers from Virginia, spent those minutes doing something else entirely: systematically wiping out nearly 100 United States government databases. The destruction started six minutes after their termination call ended.
The Company That Trusted Two Convicted Hackers
The brothers worked for a Washington, D.C. company that provided software products and services to more than 45 federal government agencies and hosted data for some federal clients on servers in Ashburn, Virginia. That company was later identified as Opexus. What made their hiring remarkable is that both men had already been convicted of federal crimes. In 2015, the brothers pleaded guilty to wire fraud, with Muneeb sentenced to three years in prison and Sohaib to two. Opexus missed it entirely.
A Criminal Past Hiding in Plain Sight
According to prosecutors, the twins had hacked a cosmetics company, stolen thousands of credit card numbers, and used their access to book flights and hotels. Muneeb also resold stolen information on the dark web. After serving their sentences, both brothers quietly re-entered the technology sector. Muneeb joined Opexus in 2023; Sohaib followed a year later. For nearly two years, they held privileged access to data belonging to dozens of federal agencies. Then, in early 2025, old habits resurfaced.
Stealing Passwords Before the Firing Even Happened
Weeks before they were let go, the brothers were already breaking the law from inside the company. On February 1, 2025, Muneeb asked Sohaib for the plaintext password of a person who had filed a complaint through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s public portal. Sohaib ran a database query and handed it over. Muneeb then used it to access that person’s email without authorization. This was not an isolated act. Muneeb had already collected 5,400 stolen credentials from the company’s own network.
The Termination Call That Changed Everything
On February 18, 2025, the FDIC flagged Sohaib’s prior conviction during a background check for a potential new role. Opexus fired both brothers during a remote Microsoft Teams meeting that ended around 4:50 PM. The offboarding was immediate for Sohaib: his VPN access and Windows account were cut off before the call even finished. Muneeb’s account, however, was overlooked. That single oversight gave him an open door into systems holding some of the most sensitive government data in the country.
Fifty-Six Minutes of Destruction
At approximately 4:56 PM, Muneeb issued commands preventing other users from reading or writing to a database, then deleted it. Over the following 56 minutes, he allegedly deleted approximately 96 databases containing data related to Freedom of Information Act matters and sensitive investigative files belonging to federal departments and agencies. One of those was a Department of Homeland Security production database. He also downloaded over 1,800 EEOC files to a USB drive and took federal tax information belonging to at least 450 people.
The Conversation They Did Not Know Was Being Recorded
Throughout the destruction, the brothers talked. Investigators later obtained a verbatim transcript of the exchange, because the brothers had recorded the Teams firing call and simply forgot to turn it off. “I see you cleaning out their database backups,” Sohaib said. When Muneeb seemed unbothered, noting the company could recover from yesterday’s backups, Sohaib pushed further. “Delete their filesystem as well?” he suggested. “Smart idea,” Muneeb replied. They even briefly debated whether to use the access for blackmail before Muneeb shut it down as too risky.
Asking AI How to Cover Their Tracks
Court documents reveal that Muneeb queried an unnamed AI tool with “How do I clear system logs from SQL servers after deleting databases” and “How do you clear all event and application logs from Microsoft Windows server 2012.” The brothers then reinstalled the operating systems on their company laptops with help from an unnamed co-conspirator. Despite all of it, Sohaib predicted what would come next. “They’re gonna probably raid this place,” he said. He was right. Federal agents arrived three weeks later.
Guns, Arrests, and a Jury Verdict
When agents executed a search warrant at Sohaib’s home in March 2025, they found seven firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. As a convicted felon, he was prohibited from possessing any of them. Both brothers were arrested on December 3, 2025. Sohaib faces a maximum of 21 years in prison, while Muneeb faces up to 45 years for his involvement in computer fraud, destruction of records, and aggravated identity theft. Muneeb signed a plea deal in April 2026, then began filing handwritten letters from jail trying to undo it.
One Overlooked Account, One Catastrophic Failure
The Akhter case is not just a story about two reckless men. It is a story about institutional failure at every level. Opexus missed a decade-old federal conviction during hiring, then failed to deactivate one account during a firing. FDIC-OIG Inspector General Jennifer Fain described the brothers’ actions as “a blatant disregard for the security and integrity of federal information systems.” In 56 minutes, 96 databases were gone. The question every government contractor should now be asking is: how many overlooked accounts are still out there?