MISSOURI
A United Kingdom national pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to commit aggravated identity theft and computer fraud, and was sentenced to five years in federal prison.
U.S. District Judge Ronnie White of Missouri sentenced Nathan Wyatt, 39, who participated in a computer hacking collective known as “The Dark Overlord,” which targeted victims in the St. Louis area beginning in 2016.
Wyatt was extradited from the United Kingdom to the Eastern District of Missouri in December 2019. Judge White also ordered Wyatt to pay $1,467,048 in restitution.
“Cyber hackers mistakenly believe they can hide behind a keyboard,” said Special Agent in Charge Richard Quinn of the FBI’s St. Louis Field Office. “In this case, the FBI demonstrated once again that it will impose consequences on cybercriminals no matter how long it takes or where they are located.”
Wyatt admitted that, beginning in 2016, he was a member of The Dark Overlord, a hacking group that was responsible for remotely accessing the computer networks of multiple U.S. companies without authorization.
Victims in the Eastern District of Missouri included healthcare providers, accounting firms, and others.
Wyatt admitted that The Dark Overlord co-conspirators acted by obtaining sensitive data from victim companies.
This included patient medical records and personal identifying information, and then threatening to release the companies’ stolen data unless the companies paid a ransom of between $75,000 and $350,000 in bitcoin.
Wyatt further admitted that he participated in the conspiracy by creating, validating, and maintaining communication, payment, and virtual private network accounts that were used in the course of the scheme to, among other things, send threatening and extortionate messages to victims within the Eastern District of Missouri.