A former employee of American tech company Ubiquity has been jailed for six years after confessing to trying to extort nearly $2 million worth of cryptocurrency from the company while posing as an anonymous hacker and whistleblower.
According to a press release released last week by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, former senior developer Nicholas Sharp illegally accessed sensitive data and sent anonymous emails to extort 50 bitcoins from network technology providers. was arrested on a charge of
Defendants reportedly not only carried out a data breach, but also orchestrated a misleading news story about the company’s handling of the incident, ultimately costing the company more than $4 billion in market capitalization. .
“Nicholas Sharpe was paid nearly $250,000 a year to keep his employer safe,” U.S. Attorney Damien Williams commented on the news.
“He has stolen large amounts of sensitive data, implicated innocent employees in his attacks, extorted ransoms from employers, obstructed law enforcement, and falsely accused the company and those who invested in it. He abused that trust by spreading the news of Sharpe now facing serious punishment for his callous crimes.”
U.S. prosecutors added that around March 24, 2021, FBI agents executed a search warrant at the Sharpe residence in Portland, Oregon. They successfully seized various electronic devices, including a laptop that Sharp used to steal Ubiquity’s data.
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During the investigation, Sharp intentionally provided multiple false statements to FBI agents. On February 2, 2023, Sharp was finally found guilty of one count of intentionally causing damage to a protected computer, one count of wire fraud, and one count of making false statements to the FBI. Admitted.
In addition to a prison sentence, the defendant was also ordered to pay $1,590,487 in damages and to confiscate personal property used or intended to be used in connection with the crimes committed. In addition, Sharp was sentenced to three years of supervised release.
The ruling comes months after an American man was charged with fraudulently obtaining $110 million in cryptocurrency from cryptocurrency exchange Mango Market and its customers.
