20-Year Sentence in Theft of Card Numbers
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON (AP) — A computer hacker from Florida was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison for helping engineer one of the largest thefts of credit and debit card numbers in American history.
Judge Patti Saris of Federal District Court sentenced the hacker, Albert Gonzalez of Miami, who pleaded guilty last year to breaking into computer systems of major retailers, including TJX Companies and BJ’s Wholesale Club.
Prosecutors sought 25 years for Mr. Gonzalez, saying he victimized millions of people and cost companies, banks and insurers nearly $200 million. His lawyer argued Mr. Gonzalez should get no more than 15 years.
Mr. Gonzalez pleaded guilty last year in three separate hacking cases brought in Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. The Thursday hearing dealt with the Massachusetts case. A second sentencing Friday, also in Boston, will deal with the others.
Mr. Gonzalez’s Boston lawyer, Martin Weinberg, said his client, a self-taught computer expert, displayed behavior consistent with Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism.
(More here.)
BOSTON (AP) — A computer hacker from Florida was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison for helping engineer one of the largest thefts of credit and debit card numbers in American history.
Judge Patti Saris of Federal District Court sentenced the hacker, Albert Gonzalez of Miami, who pleaded guilty last year to breaking into computer systems of major retailers, including TJX Companies and BJ’s Wholesale Club.
Prosecutors sought 25 years for Mr. Gonzalez, saying he victimized millions of people and cost companies, banks and insurers nearly $200 million. His lawyer argued Mr. Gonzalez should get no more than 15 years.
Mr. Gonzalez pleaded guilty last year in three separate hacking cases brought in Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. The Thursday hearing dealt with the Massachusetts case. A second sentencing Friday, also in Boston, will deal with the others.
Mr. Gonzalez’s Boston lawyer, Martin Weinberg, said his client, a self-taught computer expert, displayed behavior consistent with Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism.
(More here.)
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