Sentencing of LulzSec double agent postponed
Authorities postpone hearing for Hector Xavier Monsegur, also known as "Sabu," who faces a maximum 124 year jail term for his role in LulzSec hack attacks.
Hector Xavier Monsegur, better known by his nom de plume "Sabu," was slated to face sentencing in New York City today for his role hacking into public and private Web sites as one of the hacktivists operating under the LulzSec label. All told, he faces a maximum time behind bars of 124 years associated with his guilty plea on ten counts of bank fraud and one count of identity theft.
But Monsegur, who subsequently worked as a double agent for the FBI, still awaits his fate. The authorities abruptly postponed his sentencing. No explanation was offered.
His cooperation with the authorities led to the March 2012 arrest. of several LulzSec members. Monsegur was later described in court documents as having "proactively" cooperated with the FBI as it built its case. Following his arrest, The Wall Street Journal reported that information supplied by Monsegur had helped the FBI stop over 300 planned hacks. It's widely believed that Monsegur will receive a reduced sentence for signing a plea agreement and serving as an informant.
The indictments against Monsegur pertain to hacks carried out against Web sites operated by the Tunisian, Algerian, Yemeni, and Zimbabwe governments between December 2010 and May 2011. They also include the launching of distributed denial of service attacks on the United States Senate, PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, Bethesda Softworks, Fox News, the Chicago Tribune newspaper site, Sony Pictures Europe, Sony Music Entertainment, PBS, and Nintendo.