Hacker Pleads Guilty In Credit Card Fraud Case
U.S. officials have closed the case on what they say may be the largest credit card theft case in U.S. history after a 28-year-old Florida man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to hacking into corporate computer networks, AFP reported.
The Justice Department said in a statement that Albert Gonzalez, of Miami, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Boston to two counts of conspiracy to gain unauthorized access to payment card networks.
More than 130 million credit and debit card numbers were stolen from firms supporting major retail and financial organizations.
Gonzalez and two unidentified Russian co-conspirators were charged with the theft.
Heartland Payment Systems, a New Jersey-based card payment processor; 7-Eleven Inc., a Texas-based nationwide convenience store chain; and Hannaford Brothers Co. Inc., a Maine-based supermarket chain were among the more than 250 financial institutions that were affected by the thefts.
Gonzalez was accused of leasing servers to other hackers who used the platforms to store malicious software known as "malware" and launch attacks against corporate victims.
He is now facing between 17 and 25 years in prison and his sentencing is scheduled for March 19.
Assistant U.S. attorney general Lanny Breuer said the Department of Justice would not allow computer hackers to rob consumers of their privacy and erode the public’s confidence in the security of the marketplace.
Breuer warned that criminals like Albert Gonzalez who operate in the shadows would be caught, exposed, and held to account.
Gonzalez pleaded guilty in September to charges in two other cases related to hacks into major U.S. retailers including TJX Companies, BJ’s Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes and Noble, Sports Authority and the Dave and Buster’s restaurant chain. Sentencing in those cases was set for March 18.
"This is a young kid who did some reckless things and he’s going to pay a price for it," said Gonzalez’s attorney, Martin Weinberg.
Weinberg said Gonzalez was remorseful and that he would ask two federal judges hearing the cases to sentence Gonzalez to the lower end of the 17- to 25-year sentencing range spelled out in the plea agreements.
Dr. Barry Roth described Gonzalez in the defense-commissioned report as an Internet addict with an "idiot-Savant-like genius for computers and information technology," but socially awkward.
"His personal life has been characterized most of all by awkwardness, impairment, troubles connecting to people, with an overarching preference and predilection to machines and technology," Roth wrote.
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