As RT reportedlast week, Hector Xavier Monsegur, the man behind the hacker alias“Sabu,” was absent from federal court on Friday despite previouslybeing scheduled to appear for sentencing that morning in regards tothe 12 criminal charges he pleaded guilty to in mid-2011. Only now,however, has it been confirmed that Monsegur avoided sentencingbecause he is continuing to maintain a working relationship withfederal agents.
On Monday, the leaking website Cryptome published a copy[.pdf]of a request from the US Attorney’s Office for the SouthernDistrict of New York’s in which the court is asked to adjournMonsegur’s sentencing date until August 23, 2013 “in light ofthe defendant’s ongoing cooperation with the Government.”According to the copy published by Cryptome, the request wasapproved by District Judge Loretta Preska, in turn grantingMonsegur another six months of freedom while he continues to aidauthorities.
Monsegur was arrested in June 2011 and pleaded guilty two monthslater to a dozen charges relating to the hacker group LulzSec, orLulz Security, an off-shoot of the shadowy hacktivist movementAnonymous. Monsegur took the blame for a laundry list of crimesthat included multiple counts of conspiracy to engage in computerhacking and other high-tech crimes, although news of his arrest andplea were initially kept under seal so that investigators could usethe single father of two to infiltrate Anonymous on behalf of theFBI.
“It was because of his kids. He didn’t want to go away toprison and leave them. That’s how we got him,” a lawenforcement official involved in the case told Fox News last yearon condition of anonymity.
When news broke last March of an international sting targetinghacktivists, though, it was unearthed that Monsegur had become aturncoat for the feds. Using a computer provided to him by theauthorities, he had fellow hacker Jeremy Hammond upload files thatwere illegally obtained from private intelligence firm Stratfor inDecember 2011.
“At the direction of the FBI,” reads the indictment against Hammond, a confidential informant providedhim and his co-conspirators with “a computer server in New York,New York, which could be used to store data, and to which Hammondand his co-conspirators in fact transferred data.” By thattime, Monsegur had already been assisting the authorities for sixmonths. Less than three months after the Stratfor files werecompromised and then released by Anonymous and LulzSec, theFBIarrested Hammond on March 6 using evidence they were able tocreate with the cooperation of Monsegur.
"Since literally the day he was arrested, the defendant hasbeen cooperating with the government proactively," AssistantU.S. Attorney James Pastore said at a secret bail hearing afterMonsegur first began assisting law enforcement.
Monsegur had last been scheduled to be sentenced in August 2012,but Judge Preska adjournedthe hearing for another six months then due to the defendant’songoing cooperation with the government. According to the latestnews out of New York, Monsegur is said to be still assisting theauthorities, suggesting that the FBI continues to maintain apresence inside of Anonymous and the hacktivism community. NowMonsegur is likely to avoid sentencing until at least August 2013,at which point he will have been working with the FBI for over twoyears.
“Do not expect Sabu to be sentenced until after the lastco-defendant or case he made has been convicted and sentenced,”New York-based human rights attorney StanleyCohen — who is not directly affiliated with either hacking case— opined on Twitter. JayLeiderman, another counsel who is not working on this case buthas assisted with legal representative for another accused membersof Anonymous, adds that he doesn’t think Monsegur will be sentenced“until he either testifies against Hammond or Hammond pleadsguilty.”
Judge Preska, who will next weigh in on the Monsegur case inAugust, is meanwhile tasked with handling the federal prosecutionof JeremyHammond. If he is convicted of his crimes that were done inconjunction with the informant’s urging he could be sentenced tolife in prison. When Monsegur is eventually sentenced, he could behanded a prison stay of 124years. Until then, though, he is guaranteed another six monthsoutside of prison on condition that he continues to work withauthorities.
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