Barrett Brown, Spokesman for Anonymous hacktivist, has been sentenced to 63 months in federal prison, (minus 28 months already served) and is also ordered to pay $890,000 in restitution.
After having most of the 12 counts dropped Barrett Brown, Spokesman for Anonymous hacktivist, struck a plea deal pleading guilty to charges of count 1: transmitting threats, when he was separately charged with threatening a federal agent in statements posted online. Count 2: accessory to hacking charges, after the fact to the actual perpetrators of the hack, and count 3: interfering with the execution of a search warrant, when he and his mother hid a computer from FBI agents in which his mother was sentenced to six months of probation in early 2013. For count one in the case, he receives 48 months. For count 2, he receives 12 months. And for count 3, he receives 3 months.
The government’s charges against Barrett Brown stemmed from his relationship with sources close to the hacker group Anonymous, and even the fact that Brown published a link of publicly-available (yes I said “publicly” available) copies of leaked Stratfor documents.
Brown read a statement to the court during the sentencing hearing. Which can be found in its entirety here.
In his statement following the judge’s ruling, Brown said.
“For the next 35 months, I’ll be provided with free food, clothes and housing as I seek to expose wrongdoing by Bureau of Prisons officials and staff and otherwise report on news and culture in the world’s greatest prison system.”
