BreachForums founder to be re-sentenced after appeals

23 January 2025 2 minutes Author: Newsman

An appeals court has overturned the suspended sentence of BreachForums founder Conor Fitzpatrick, ordering a retrial because the sentence was too lenient given the seriousness of his crimes.

Conor Fitzpatrick, the founder of BreachForums, was sentenced to 17 days in jail and 20 years of probation after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography and conspiracy to sell stolen personal information. But the appeals court found the sentence “materially unreasonable” because it ignored the scale of his criminal activity. The court found that the BreachForums platform facilitated the buying and selling of more than 14 billion records of stolen data and made a profit of 700,000$.

After his parole, Fitzpatrick violated his probation by continuing to use the internet via a VPN, chat, and even joke about selling classified information to foreign governments.

BreachForums was created in 2022 after another platform, RaidForum, was shut down. The platform became the largest English-language marketplace for the sale of stolen personal information. Fitzpatrick was arrested in 2023, but during a hearing in district court, a judge decided to give him a minimal sentence because of his young age and diagnosis of autism.

The appeals court ruled that the previous sentence ignored the seriousness of Fitzpatrick’s crimes and set a dangerous precedent. His re-sentencing should take into account not only the scale of his actions, but also his long-standing violations of probation.

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