NEW YORK – A private investigator admitted that he hired people to hack into the email accounts on behalf of his clients along with accounts of people who he was interested for personal reasons, according to officials.
Eric Saldarriaga, 41, of Queens, worked for law firms and used “Hacking Services” advertised on the Internet. He began the illegally hacking in 2009 until March 2014 and at least 60 email accounts were hacked, officials said.
Last week, Saldarriaga pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Sullivan.
Saldarriaga will be sentence in June and is facing up to five years in prison, according to authorities.
The New York Times reported that Saldarriaga had been cooperative with authorities for several months.
The investigation of Saldarriaga and his company, Iona Research and Security Services, could now turn attention onto some of his clients, assuming they were aware he was hiring hackers to break into email accounts, the Times reported.
In a posting on an older Yahoo message board used by private investigators, Saldarriaga said his company did work for about 20 law firms, the New York Times reported.
Saldarriaga paid the Hacking Services to provide him with login credentials, including usernames and passwords, for victims’ e-mail accounts.
“Eric Saldarriaga didn’t honorably serve his clients when he abused his powers to the detriment of his victims. Unlawfully accessing personal information is no minor crime. As today’s guilty plea suggests, those who exploit their authority in this way will be made to answer for their actions,” FBI Assistant Director Diego Rodriguez said