Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, the founder and chief administrator of the now-defunct BreachForums hacking forums, has been recommended by the US government to be given a 15-year prison sentence.
After RaidForums was taken over by the FBI and the nbsp in 2022, the notorious cybercrime forum BreachForUMs became well-known. To facilitate the trade and exchange of stolen data, such as personal information, credit cards, account credentials, etc., Fitzpatrick created it under the alias” Pompompurin.”
The “official” databases section alone hosted 888 stolen databases and contained more than 14 billion unique records, making the platform an enormous source of data for users.
Fitzpatrick was detained on March 15, 2023, at his New York residence, and charged with conspiracy to solicit people to sell unauthorized access devices on one count.
The man was released shortly after his arrest on a$ 300k bond until the court proceedings could start after immediately admitting his involvement and role in Breach.
Fitzpatrick was detained once more earlier this month after breaking his release conditions and using a virtual private network (VPN) tool to access the internet on an unmonitored computer.
The defendant’s final judgment is set for Friday, January 19, 2024, and the US government has already submitted a proposal for the judge to consider.
The government advises Fitzpatrick to be given a sentence of 188 months, or roughly 15.7 years, depending on the nature and significance of the defendant’s actions, according to the documents that were first discovered by , @vxunderground.
According to the , sentencing proposal,” The defendant’s administration of BreachForums played an instrumental role in bringing together more than 300,000 members to solicit, distribute, and access thousands of breached databases containing the stolen data of hundreds of companies, organizations, governmental organizations of varying size and the PII of millions of U.S. persons.”
The defendant “made it possible for BreachForums members to commit exponentially more crimes and more sophisticated crimes than any could have done alone by creating a platform for hackers and fraudsters to connect and conduct business.”
In addition to serving as BreachForums ‘ administrator, according to the U.S. government, Fitzpatrick served as a middleman for the sale of stolen data between other site users, enticing threat actors to release samples of the data.
The sentencing proposal states that the defendant’s middleman service “enabled buyers and sellers to verify the means of payment and contraband files being sold prior to executing the purchase and sale,” which” substantially facilitated and encouraged the dissemination of hacked or stolen data through BreachForums.”
The FBI discovered child pornography in 26 files on a seized SSD hard drive in addition to Fitzpatrick’s online cybercrime activities.
The lower end of the guidelines on the offense level and applicable sentences contains the U.S. government’s recommendation for sentencing. Fitzpatrick’s cooperation with the authorities, lack of a violent crime history, an early plea deal, or other factors could be the cause of this leniency.
The U.S. government also wants to fine him for having child pornography, grant him a long period of supervised release, compensate the victims, and forfeit some assets in addition to the prison sentence.