Missing From The Story: LulzSec Informant Sabu Released Early Because He Got LulzSec To Hack FOR The FBI
from the time-served-indeed dept
Earlier this week, there were plenty of reports about how Hector Xavier Monsegur, also know as "Sabu," the leader/turned informant of the Anonymous spinoff hacking project LulzSec, was released from jail early for his "extraordinary cooperation" with the FBI. Technically, this was at his sentencing, and he was given "time served" (amounting to about 7 months in jail). Most folks have noted that the "extraordinary cooperation" involved handing over the names and information on other LulzSec members, including Jeremy Hammond, who was recently sentenced (by the same judge) to 10 years in prison.However, that seems to leave out the other, increasingly troubling, aspect of the Sabu story -- which was that he didn't just "cooperate" with the FBI in fingering various LulzSec members, he actually gave them orders (which first came from the FBI) on who to hack, including key government computers in a variety of foreign countries. It seems likely that this was the "extraordinary cooperation" that helped Sabu secure a much shorter sentence.
Two of the other individuals that Sabu helped authorities arrest and prosecute have commented on Sabu's deal. Jake Davis highlights how Sabu was a huge "get" for the FBI, since they didn't seem to understand much about internet hacking without Sabu to lead them through everything -- and he wonders if this will lead others to rush to become informants as well. In fact, Davis points out that the whole reason for the light sentence is probably to encourage more informants -- though, it could equally be argued that it's not just to encourage more informants, but more people who can help the FBI secretly hack into targets.
Meanwhile, another LulzSec member, Ryan Ackroyd, who was recently released after serving 9 months of a 30-month sentence, pointed out that while the sentence is unsurprising, it's somewhat ridiculous given Sabu was in many ways "the worst" of the bunch:
"Sabu was the worst one out of us all, he should have been given the largest sentence. He was the one stealing from people's bank accounts, credit cards and PayPal so that he could pay his bills and buy new things. Sabu talked people into hacking things for him and when he got caught he decided to snitch on these people, for something he asked them to do, in order to save himself."Either way, no matter what you think of the situation and Sabu, it seems worth remembering that he didn't just help find other LulzSec members, he got them to hack specific FBI targets.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: extraordinary cooperation, fbi, hacking, hector xavier monsegur, jake davis, jeremy hammond, leniency, lulzsec, ryan ackroyd, sabu, time served
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Morons.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Just like on TV
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
body count
Just as a guess, it seems that to get one other person convicted means a 50% reduction in a person's sentence, while getting 10 people convicted might translate to a 90% reduction.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
The problem is it easy often easier to use the abusive powers of the US DA to coerce someone to their bidding.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
They've had a real problem finding such people, yes. For good reasons. Even assuming that they can find skilled people who don't have an ethical problem working for the feds, those positions aren't very desirable: low pay, extremely difficult and invasive application process, etc.
Skilled people can do a whole lot better than working for the feds.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
As another note I wonder what were the threats that made them work for the FBI. Or was the mere prospect of getting out of jail earlier enough?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Looking at how the DOJ works, threatening to pile on the charges to keep them in jail until they were senile.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]