On July 4, 1994 he wrote an article about Kevin Mitnick, who was then a fugitive from a number of law enforcement agencies.
 He wrote several more pieces detailing Mitnick's capture.
Markoff also co-wrote, with Tsutomu Shimomura, the book Takedown about the chase.
 The book later became a film that was released direct to video in the United States.
Markoff's writing about Mitnick was the subject of criticism by Mitnick supporters and unaffiliated parties who maintained that Markoff's accounts exaggerated or even invented Mitnick's activities and successes.
Markoff stood by his reporting in several responses.

The film went much further, with Markoff himself stating to the San Francisco Chronicle in 2000, "I thought it was a fundamentally dishonest movie." (
Mitnick stated that he settled a lawsuit with distributor Miramax over the film, but details were confidential; Miramax has not confirmed that.)

Markoff was also accused by Jonathan Littman of journalistic impropriety and of over-hyping Mitnick's actual crimes.
Littman published a more sympathetic account of Mitnick's time as a fugitive in his own book on the incident, The Fugitive Game.
Further controversy came over the release of the movie Takedown, with Littman alleging that portions of the film were taken from his book The Fugitive Game without permission.

Markoff's involvement with Mitnick is thoroughly covered in the documentary Freedom Downtime, in which an interview is conducted with Markoff who is unable to elaborate on the veracity of Mitnick's charges.
On July 4, 1994 he wrote an article about Kevin Mitnick, who was then a fugitive from a number of law enforcement agencies.  He wrote several more pieces detailing Mitnick's capture. Markoff also co-wrote, with Tsutomu Shimomura, the book Takedown about the chase.  The book later became a film that was released direct to video in the United States. Markoff's writing about Mitnick was the subject of criticism by Mitnick supporters and unaffiliated parties who maintained that Markoff's accounts exaggerated or even invented Mitnick's activities and successes. Markoff stood by his reporting in several responses.
The film went much further, with Markoff himself stating to the San Francisco Chronicle in 2000, "I thought it was a fundamentally dishonest movie." (Mitnick stated that he settled a lawsuit with distributor Miramax over the film, but details were confidential; Miramax has not confirmed that.)
Markoff was also accused by Jonathan Littman of journalistic impropriety and of over-hyping Mitnick's actual crimes. Littman published a more sympathetic account of Mitnick's time as a fugitive in his own book on the incident, The Fugitive Game. Further controversy came over the release of the movie Takedown, with Littman alleging that portions of the film were taken from his book The Fugitive Game without permission.
Markoff's involvement with Mitnick is thoroughly covered in the documentary Freedom Downtime, in which an interview is conducted with Markoff who is unable to elaborate on the veracity of Mitnick's charges.
John Markoff