Mitt Romney Tax Record Hacker Sentenced to Prison for Bitcoin Ransom

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A self-confessed hacker who sought a million-dollar Bitcoin payment in exchange for then-US Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's tax records has been found guilty of extortion and fraud. In August Michael Mancil Brown, 37, sent a letter to one of Romney's accountants, PricewaterhouseCoopers PwCclaiming to have hacked the company's servers and obtained the tax records of Romney and his wife Ann.

He demanded a million-Bitcoin ransom. Bitcoin romney taxes the time Romney was three months away from the presidential election and had been criticized for only releasing two years of tax returns, showing he paid about 15 per cent tax.

Brown claimed to have the tax returns pre and said he offered similar terms to the local Democratic and Republican parties. The following month, using the moniker Dr EvilBrown put up a series of posts on Pastebin claiming that PwC's network had bitcoin romney taxes physically breached on August A hacking term member working in the office above had broken into a PwC terminal, extracted the files to a USB stick, and then squirrelled it out of the building.

Brown threatened a full release of the tax returns online by September 28, and said that some media firms had been sent copies but were keeping quiet about it. The Reg was contacted by Brown, but no tax records were enclosed and we advised skepticism. Dr Evil's also said he would cancel the data dump if Romney would release his tax returns for the earlier period.

Shortly afterwards Brown's home was raided by the Feds and evidence of his contacts with the firms was recovered, with no mention of any tax returns being found. PwC has always maintained that no physical attack took place, and its IT systems bitcoin romney taxes breached. Brown was charged in and a bitcoin romney taxes has now found him guilty of six counts of wire fraud and six more of using facilities of interstate commerce to commit extortion.

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Back in , Brown contacted various journalists, including us here at El Reg , boasting that he hacked into the servers of PricewaterhouseCoopers PwC. Brown claimed he had swiped copies of Romney's pre tax returns, which the Republican politician had refused to release. Using the moniker "Dr Evil," Brown asked for a million dollars in Bitcoin to leak the files. As part of the scheme, similar letters were delivered to the offices of the Democratic and Republican parties in Franklin and similar statements were posted to Pastebin.

At the time, Romney's lack of transparency about his tax affairs it later turned out he was paying about 15 per cent per annum was a major campaign issue — which sounds rather quaint these days, with Republican Donald Trump refusing to release any — and Brown obviously thought this would be a good way to cash in on the fuss.

They tracked him down, based on his communications online, and when they raided his home found no evidence that he had the tax documents. PwC also maintained that Brown never successfully hacked the firm. In a jury trial, Brown was found guilty of six counts of wire fraud and six more of using facilities of interstate commerce to commit extortion.

Despite facing a possible 25 years, the judge gave him just four years inside, meaning he won't be seeing Frau Farbissina until the start of the next decade. Minds Mastering Machines - Call for papers now open. The Register - Independent news and views for the tech community. Part of Situation Publishing. Join our daily or weekly newsletters, subscribe to a specific section or set News alerts. The Register uses cookies. Not a yoga class, silly, Nutanix's move into copy data management Score one for the bats and badgers!

Tell us where Windows hurt you. When it comes to passwords, the smarter students have it figured Brit govt told to do its homework ahead of talks over post-Brexit spy laws and data flows IBM bans all removable storage, for all staff, everywhere Every major OS maker misread Intel's docs. Now their kernels can be hijacked or crashed. Policy The Channel US border cops told not to search seized devices just for the hell of it Consent, datasets and avoiding a visit from the information commissioner There will be blood: US Congress finally emits all 3, Russian 'troll' Facebook ads.

And you like stability? We'll see you in December, then. You can keep asking the same question, but it won't change the answer NASA boss insists US returning to the Moon after Peanuts to show for past four decades SpaceX Bangabandhu-1 launch held up while Dragon splashes down on time. Artificial intelligence is good for at least one thing — making hardware important again DeepMind: Get a load of our rat-like AI.

It solves mazes and stuff So when can you get in the first self-driving car? Waymo says — yes, this year. Bum-biting in an underground hole Yes, people see straight through male displays of bling they're only after a fling New Monty Python movie to turn old jokes into new royalties. Mitt Romney tax-return 'hacker' Dr Evil gets four years in the slammer Bitcoin blackmail scheme? Most read Every major OS maker misread Intel's docs. Now their kernels can be hijacked or crashed IBM bans all removable storage, for all staff, everywhere Commodore 64 owners rejoice: It's not an overheating wreck, but UX is tappy.

More from The Register. Get with the times, plod. UK cops arrest year-old on suspicion of blackmail and hacking Meanwhile, wannabe iTunes gift card moguls reportedly fire up their email.

Whitepapers Ransomware is Increasing the Risks and Impact to Organizations Ransomware is gaining traction in the criminal community. Using OutSystems, AXA plans to continuously improve the eServe portal so it can provide additional benefits to brokers and customers. Embracing a multi-cloud strategy creates options, and enables agility that would be impossible otherwise. Sponsored links Get The Register's Headlines in your inbox daily - quick signup!

About us Who we are Under the hood Contact us Advertise with us. Sign up to our Newsletters Join our daily or weekly newsletters, subscribe to a specific section or set News alerts Subscribe.