A man by the name of Martin Marsich has been formally charged with illegal intrusion after being caught hacking into a company’s computer systems. Interestingly, the U.S. high court asked him to post bail using an equivalent amount of bitcoins.
The company in question is a video-game company based in San Francisco. This announcement was made by United States Attorney Alex G. Tse and Special Agent John F. Bennett of the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
Details of the Case
The case first came to light after the video-game company discovered that someone had hacked into their computer systems and illegally gained access to over 25,000 customer accounts.
After investigations were carried out, the hacker was found to be Martin Marsich.
Before the trail, Martin was a resident of Idine, Italy but possessed both an Italian and Serbian passport.
Virtual Fraud
After hacking into the computer systems, Marsich allegedly used the information he gathered to profit in the virtual world.
He illegally got in-game currency and traded items with other users. Not stopping there, he was found to have sold this ill-gotten access to others on black market sites on the internet.
This unscrupulous behavior forced the company to make over $300,000 in losses by closing the compromised accounts.
He is now charged with intentionally accessing a protected computer without authorization to obtain information for the purposes of commercial advantage and private financial gain, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(2)(C) and (c)(1)(B)(i), and accessing a protected computer to defraud and obtain anything of value, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(4)
Getting Caught
Marsich was arrested yesterday when he touched down at San Francisco International Airport and then had his first court appearance today.
His bail was set at $750,000 equivalent cryptocurrency and was then sent to a halfway house. This next scheduled court appearance is on August 13th.
What happens next?
With his next court date being set, Martin Marsich’s fate hangs in the balance. If he is found guilty of and convicted of these crimes, he faces up to 5 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines.
Whatever his fate, it will ultimately be decided by the U.S Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C 3553.
This case is being prosecuted by U.S Attorney Susan Knight with Elise Etter. The initial investigation was carried out by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
