Former Ransomware Negotiator Gets 4 Years for BlackCat Attacks
Martino secretly shared victim negotiation data with BlackCat affiliates and helped drive $75.3 million in ransom demands, prosecutors said.
- On Thursday, Angelo Martino, a former DigitalMint ransomware negotiator, was sentenced to 70 months in prison for conspiring with BlackCat actors to extort $75.3 million from five U.S. companies he was hired to protect.
- Prosecutors described Martino as a "double agent working to maximize the harm to his clients" by sharing confidential negotiation strategies and insurance details with BlackCat actors to drive up ransom demands.
- Martino worked with Kevin Tyler Martin and Ryan Clifford Goldberg to deploy BlackCat ransomware against five additional companies between April and November 2023, prompting authorities to seize $10 million in assets including vehicles and a luxury fishing boat.
- "Angelo Martino sold out the very victims he was hired to represent," said Brett Leatherman, assistant director of the Cyber Division, as victims recounted how their businesses were nearly destroyed by the betrayal.
- Cybersecurity fraud has surged in recent years, with more than $20 billion in losses reported last year; Martino faces a September 17 restitution hearing to determine the amount he must repay victims.
16 Articles
16 Articles
Chicago Sun Times
Usa newsEx-Chicago ransomware negotiator gets nearly 6 years in prison for aiding hackers
<p>Former Chicago ransomware negotiator Angelo Martino was sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison for secretly helping cybercriminals extort clients he was hired to protect.</p><p>Martino, 41, was employed at the Chicago cybersecurity company DigitalMint, where he negotiated on behalf of companies whose computers were hacked and held with multimillion-dollar ransom payments.</p><p>But Martino helped orchestrate the same hacks that he wa…
TechCrunch
IT Security News - cybersecurity, infosecurity newsFlorida ransomware negotiator convicted for helping ransomware gang extort US companies
A third ransomware negotiator has been jailed for helping a notorious ransomware group to extort American victim companies into paying the hackers.
Former DigitalMint ransomware negotiator who duped clients sentenced to 70 months in jail
A former ransomware negotiator for DigitalMint was sentenced to 70 months in jail for deceiving his employer’s clients and conspiring with ransomware affiliates to extort a combined $75.3 million from five U.S. companies he was entrusted to aid during their moments of extreme crisis, the Justice Department said Thursday. Angelo John Martino III shared confidential information he gained from his work as a ransomware negotiator, including victim …
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 72% of the sources are Center
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
