Fraudulent ransomware negotiator must go to prison for 70 months
Image: Primary A former ransomware negotiator was sentenced Thursday to 70 months in prison for conspiring with the BlackCat cyber gang to extort victims and for conspiring with two other men to carry out additional attacks in 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
The 41-year-old Florida man worked for the incident response company DigitalMint but abused his position starting in April 2023 to share confidential negotiation strategies with BlackCat operators in exchange for money, according to court documents. U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason A. Reding Quinones said the defendant defrauded victims and passed their positions to criminals to squeeze more money from them.
The man also allied with a 36-year-old from Texas and a 41-year-old from Georgia to distribute BlackCat ransomware between April and November 2023. After extorting about $1.2 million in Bitcoin from one victim, the three shared and laundered the proceeds. The defendant pleaded guilty in mid-April.
The two co-conspirators were sentenced in May to 48 months each. Authorities seized assets worth $10 million, including digital currencies, cars, a food truck and a luxury fishing boat. A restitution hearing is set for Sept. 17.
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