The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) has charged a 39-year-old United Kingdom native with committing a hack-to-trade fraud operation that paid him over $3.75 million in illicit earnings.
Robert Westbrook of London was arrested last week and is anticipated to be extradited to the United States to face accusations including securities fraud, wire fraud, and five counts of computer fraud.
Westbrook is suspected of carrying out a fraudulent plan between January 2019 and May 2020, which allowed him to obtain unauthorized access to business executives’ Microsoft 365 accounts and make millions of dollars in revenues, according to court filings.
“On at least five occasions, Westbrook gained unauthorized access to Office 365 email accounts belonging to corporate executives employed by certain U.S.-based companies to obtain non-public information, including information about impending earnings announcements,” the DoJ said.
After the details were made public, the accused profited from the sale of the stocks he had bought using that information.
“On several occasions, Westbrook implemented auto-forwarding rules designed to automatically forward content from the corporate executives’ compromised email accounts to email accounts controlled by Westbrook,” the DoJ noted.
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Westbrook reset the passwords of the executives’ accounts to fraudulently gain sensitive information from five major firms ahead of at least fourteen earnings presentations.
“Even though Westbrook took multiple steps to conceal his identity—including using anonymous email accounts, VPN services, and utilizing bitcoin—the Commission’s advanced data analytics, crypto asset tracing, and technology can uncover fraud even in cases involving sophisticated international hacking,” Jorge G. Tenreiro, acting chief of the SEC’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit, said.
The maximum possible punishment for Westbrook’s securities fraud count is 20 years in jail and a $5 million fine. A maximum term of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of either $250,000 or double the gain or loss from the offence, whichever is greater, might result from the wire fraud charges.
The maximum punishment for each instance of computer fraud is five years in jail, and the maximum fine is $250,000 or twice the gain or loss from the offence, whichever is higher.
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