WannaCry virus hero faces new criminal charges
The celebrity British cybersecurity expert charged in Milwaukee last year with creating malware aimed at banks has been hit with additional charges.
Marcus Hutchins, aka MalwareTech, 23, has been living in a Los Angeles-area apartment while free on bail since appearing in federal court in Milwaukee last summer.
On Wednesday, he announced the news to his considerable Twitter following — and asked for some contributions to his legal defense fund.
“Spend months and $100k+ fighting this case, then they go and reset the clock by adding even more bullshit charges like ‘lying to the FBI’. We require more (donations).” Hutchins was charged in a six-count indictment last year. It charged Hutchins with creating a “Trojan,” a piece of malware called Kronos designed to sneak onto computers then find and divert owners’ bank account information.
He and another person, whose identity has been redacted from the indictment, are accused of conspiring to sell Kronos to cybercriminals.
A superseding indictment filed Tuesday adds four counts, including making false statements to the FBI, and includes aliases of his alleged co-conspirator: Vinny; VinnyK; Gone with the Wind; Cocaine; Jack of all Trades; and Aurora123.
The new indictment charges that Hutchins developed the Trojan and that Vinny sold it to someone in eastern Wisconsin for $1,500 in 2012 and the two continued to promote its sale through 2014. The indictment says that in 2015 Hutchins distributed Kronos to someone in California he knew was involved in cybercrime.
The new indictment also charges that Hutchins aided and abetted in the unauthorized access of a protected computer for financial gain.
The false statement count says Hutchins denied knowing the computer code he created was part of Kronos until he reverse-engineered Kronos in 2016. The FBI says he told a third party several times in 2014 that he had helped Vinny develop Kronos.