Two men were sentenced Monday to probation and community service for trying to hack the IRS to obtain President Donald Trump’s tax returns.
Andrew Harris, 23, of Philadelphia, and Justin Hiemstra, 22, of St. Paul Park, Minnesota, both previously pleaded guilty to federal charges of computer fraud.
Harris and Hiemstra were students at Haverford College outside Philadelphia in 2016 when they used a school computer lab to open a fraudulent federal financial aid application for an unnamed Trump family member.
The students managed to reset a password and, using Trump’s Social Security number and date of birth, repeatedly tried to import Trump’s federal tax information into the application, according to court documents.
The U.S. Department of Education and IRS detected the attempts.
Trump has long refused to release his tax information.
A federal judge gave each defendant two years’ probation and 200 hours of community service.
“Hiemstra and Harris thought they could manipulate and outsmart the FAFSA application process in order to obtain Donald Trump’s tax returns for their own purposes. As it turns out, that was not such a smart move: they committed a serious violation of privacy rights and a federal crime in the process,” U.S. Attorney William McSwain, a Trump appointee, said in a statement.
A defense attorney had previously called the plan a college prank that went wrong.
More from Associated Press
- Insider Q&A: Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity In Military Tech
- Idaho Hospitals Working to Resume Full Operations After Cyberattack
- Major Massachusetts Health Insurer Hit by Ransomware Attack, Member Data May Be Compromised
- Biden Picks New NSA Head, Key to Support of Ukraine, Defense of US Elections
- White House Unveils New Efforts to Guide Federal Research of AI
- Meta Fined Record $1.3 Billion and Ordered to Stop Sending European User Data to US
- China Tells Tech Manufacturers to Stop Using Micron Chips, Stepping Up Feud With United States
- ChatGPT’s Chief Testifies Before Congress, Calls for New Agency to Regulate Artificial Intelligence
Latest News
- Keep Aware Raises $2.4M to Eliminate Browser Blind Spots
- Google Workspace Gets Passkey Authentication
- Cybersecurity Startup Elba Raises €2.5 Million for Employee-Focused Product
- Zoom Expands Privacy Options for European Customers
- Several Major Organizations Confirm Being Impacted by MOVEit Attack
- Apple Unveils Upcoming Privacy and Security Features
- Verizon 2023 DBIR: Human Error Involved in Many Breaches, Ransomware Cost Surges
- Google Patches Third Chrome Zero-Day of 2023
