A Florida man accused of trying to hack the Clinton Foundation in 2015 is
expected to plead guilty on Thursday, months after he was sentenced in a
related case to 42 years
in prison over child pornography discovered on his
computers during the probe.
Timothy Sedlak, 43, is scheduled to plead guilty in federal court in
Manhattan, according to court records. Prosecutors accused him in September
2015 of trying to gain access to an unnamed New York-based global charitable
organization's network.
Prosecutors have never named the organization. But a court filing
obtained by Reuters said U.S. Secret Service agents in 2015 questioned Sedlak
about notes they found referencing former Democratic presidential candidate
Hillary Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea Clinton.
Sedlak, who called himself a private investigator, told the agents he was
researching whether charities were unintentionally providing funding to Islamic
militant groups, and said the Clintons "came up in his research," the
filing said.
The filing's description of the Clintons matched prosecutors'
descriptions of two previously unnamed individuals who were said to be an
"executive" at the charity and an "individual who has been
publicly affiliated" with it.
Chelsea Clinton is the vice chair of Clinton Foundation, which was
founded by her father, former U.S. President Bill Clinton. Its full name is the
Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
The filing, a summary of a Secret Service agent's interview with Sedlak,
was downloaded by Reuters on Feb. 3 and soon after was replaced by a redacted
version removing the Clintons' names.
A spokeswoman for Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and Sedlak's
lawyer declined comment. Clinton Foundation representatives did not respond to
requests for comment.
The investigation into Sedlak, of Ocoee, Florida, predated probes into
cyber attacks on Democrats during the 2016 presidential election.
U.S. intelligence agencies in January released an assessment that Russian
President Vladimir Putin ordered a covert effort through the cyber attacks to
help Republican Donald Trump's electoral chances by discrediting Clinton.
Prosecutors have said that Sedlak launched about 390,000 unsuccessful
attempts to gain unauthorized access to the charitable organization's computer network.
Following his arrest, authorities discovered files on his computers
containing child pornography, including a number of images depicting Sedlak
himself sexually abusing a toddler, prosecutors said.
Sedlak as a result was separately charged in Florida, where a federal
jury in Orlando in May found him guilty on charges including that he produced
and possessed child pornography. He was sentenced in August to 42 years in
prison.
* REUTERS*
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