Remember that time a presidential candidate refused to release his tax returns? No, not this one. This one.
Before there was a story about Donald Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns during an election campaign, Mitt Romney faced a similar issue. Romney eventually released his returns but not before it had been alleged that his documents had been hacked and were being held for ransom: $1 million in Bitcoin (more about Bitcoin here).
When the allegations were first released, the story seemed so fantastical that many didn’t believe it – only it turned out to be true.
This week, Michael Mancil Brown was convicted of six counts of wire fraud and six counts of using facilities of interstate commerce to commit extortion. Brown claimed that he had been able to access PricewaterhouseCoopers’ internal computer network in order to steal tax documents belonging to Romney. Brown never actually had access to Romney’s tax returns. Nonetheless, he delivered a letter to PricewaterhouseCoopers offices, demanding payment of $1 million in Bitcoin or, he claimed, he would release the documents. Brown also announced that he would release the tax documents to any third parties willing to pay $1 million in Bitcoin. To make his claims feel authentic, he included a scanned signature image of Mitt Romney’s signature which was apparently taken from earlier forms 1040.
As part of the scheme, Brown delivered similar letters to the offices of the Democratic and Republican parties in Franklin, Tennessee, along with a USB drive which he claimed contained an encrypted version of the returns. He printed the letters out using an acquaintance’s printer (he was out of ink). The arrangements were made using a Hotmail.com account. Yes, in 2012.
Brown also posted similar statements about the allegedly stolen returns on Pastebin.com, a website for sharing text online, under the name “Dr. Evil” (admit it, you’re thinking about Austin Powers now, too). He discussed the alleged theft on at least 300 additional websites.
Brown was initially indicted on 12 charges. He was found guilty of all 12. He is scheduled to be sentenced in August. He faces up to twenty years in prison on the charges of wire fraud, up to five years in prison on the charges of extortion, fines of up to $250,000, and orders of restitution to victims.
