Florida Man, associates, indicted for conspiracy to steal data, software
- Reference: 1692082692
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/08/15/georgia_trump_indictment_data_theft/
- Source link:
The celebrity defendant, a 77-year-old whose career has spanned real estate development, reality television, wagering, and a four-year term as president of the United States, was one of 19 people named in a 91-page indictment that lists 41 counts and details a "a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election."
The election was contested, and lost, by the aforementioned celebrity defendant, who at the time was seeking a second term as president.
[1]
The indictment details a sprawling effort to overturn the result of the election with actions alleged to include "false statements and writings, impersonating a public officer, forgery, filing false documents, influencing witnesses, computer theft, computer trespass, computer invasion of privacy, conspiracy to defraud the state, acts involving theft, and perjury."
[2]
[3]
That's a lot. But as this is The Register , a technology publication, we'll focus on the IT-related aspects of the indictment, which are covered by Count 7, titled "Unlawful Breach of Election Equipment in Georgia and Elsewhere" and described as follows:
Members of the enterprise, including several of the Defendants, corruptly conspired in Fulton County, Georgia, and elsewhere to unlawfully access secure voting equipment and voter data. In Georgia, members of the enterprise stole data, including ballot images, voting equipment software, and personal voter information. The stolen data was then distributed to other members of the enterprise, including members in other states.
The indictment alleges that some members of the conspiracy "conspired to use a computer with knowledge that such use was without authority and with the intention of taking and appropriating information, data, and software, the property of Dominion Voting Systems Corporation."
Some of those indicted used computers "with the intention of examining personal data with knowledge that such examination was without authority."
Others unlawfully accessed data on a server.
[4]
The indictment characterizes those actions as an "unlawful breach of election equipment."
[5]Florida man insists he didn't violate the law by keeping Top Secret docs
[6]Florida man (not that one) sold $100M-plus in counterfeit network gear
[7]Florida man accused of breaking Mastodon's open-source license with botched social network launch
[8]Florida Man sues Facebook, Twitter, YouTube for account ban
The indictment names many associates of the Florida Man, including his lawyers, and former White House chief of staff.
The indictment is the Florida Man's second recent tech-related tangle with the law, after he was [9]accused of ordering deletion of video surveillance footage, not long after a flood at his residence – curiously, a hotel and country club complex – destroyed a server.
The indicted man is again seeking election as president of the United States and currently appears likely to secure the nomination of the Republican Party – which [10]mentions "ensuring the integrity of our elections" as part of its platform.
The real estate developer and bankruptcy law aficionado has [11]labelled the indictment a "legal double standard" and "fabricated accusations." ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
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[5] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/14/florida_man_data/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/07/florida_cisco_counterfeit/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/23/software_freedom_conservancy_mastodon/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/07/florida_man_sues_social_media/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/29/florida_man_video_indictment/
[10] https://www.gop.com/about-our-party/
[11] https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110891175805974037
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: This is the most problematic indictment for him, by far
People also misunderstand the Stormy Daniels case. The Florida business man isn't being prosecuted for paying Storny some hush money: He's being prosecuted for lying on his financial declarations about where his election money was spent. (Paying hush money from election funds isn't legal. Paying hush money from your own bank account is perfectly legal)
Re: This is the most problematic indictment for him, by far
Didn't Hillary do the same with the money she paid to get the Steele dossier made up?
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/30/politics/clinton-dnc-steele-dossier-fusion-gps/index.html
Appears she did, but as she is part of the swamp all she got was a small fine.
Let me just correct the record here.
That's false. The majority of the fine was paid by the DNC, not Hillary and it was done to ensure the security of the United States, not keep a prostitute quiet.
Re: Let me just correct the record here.
Hillary got a small fine, just as I said. I never mentioned the DNC. So your statement is false.
"The DNC was fined $105,000 and the Clinton campaign was fined $8,000"
Re: Let me just correct the record here.
You're burying the lede. It's a minor fine because her individual campaign contribution was minor. This isn't embezzlement, it's just a difference of opinion on what investigating an opponent (of both the party and of democracy) is doing with a known enemy of the nation.
Re: Let me just correct the record here.
Indeed, what was Hillary doing with the Russians? And what is Sleepy Joe doing with China and Ukraine?
The known enemy of the nation is the great DC uniparty.
Re: This is the most problematic indictment for him, by far
"Didn't Hillary do ", Didn't Biden do, didn't who else do.....
Whataboutism just intended to muddy the waters. Trump's justice department had plenty of time to build a case against Hilary if indeed such a case existed. Remember "Lock her up"?? The fact that no such charges were ever brought is a clear indication that there were no charges to answer. Instead of telling us how the evil democrats got away with bla bla bla, how about trying to argue that your favourite orange man is innocent??? Perhaps you're not doing it because that's a far more difficult argument to make???
Re: This is the most problematic indictment for him, by far
I hope so, but I would prefer a few more problems. Convicted criminals are still [1]eligible to run for president (Eugene Debs) and [2]could be president while in prison - until he works out how to use presidential authority to get out. If the hearings do not complete before becoming president he could appoint an attorney general to dismiss them.
To get barred from office using article I, section 3, clause 7, Florida Man would have to get impeached by congress (already done twice), convicted by the senate (they didn't) then barred from office by another senate vote and finally there would be some sort of court room battle to decide if barred from office includes the presidency.
To be disqualified by section 3 of the fourteenth amendment, he must swear an oath to support the constitution (already done) then rebel against the United States (indicted is a step towards conviction, but chickens have not yet hatched). After that, more litigation to decide if this rule applies to presidents.
Using the twenty-second amendment (limit of two terms in office) would require insane troll logic. Two years of acting president count as a term. He claims to have won 2020 but has not been in office. It is a matter of opinion where he ever acted like a president - depends on which president you choose as a model.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States#Eligibility
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/article/trump-investigation-conviction.html
Re: This is the most problematic indictment for him, by far
I hope so, but I would prefer a few more problems. Convicted criminals are still eligible to run for president (Eugene Debs) and could be president while in prison - until he works out how to use presidential authority to get out.
Simplest way would probably be to declare the Whitehouse as a prison, and have an Epstein-like work-release program as part of his sentence. The Whitehouse is arguably more secure than most prisons, although like many prisons, it does appear to have problems with drugs being smuggled inside it. The prisoners are also usually well guarded while inside, or out, although this may require some bureaucratic hoop jumping to allow the Secret Service to officially act as prison guards.
Re: This is the most problematic indictment for him, by far
"If the hearings do not complete before becoming president he could appoint an attorney general to dismiss them."
In this case, as mentioned in the article, the charges are at state level. Not sure florida man could do anything about it even from the white house. (Also, Republicans are strong champions of states' rights, aren't they??)
Re: This is the most problematic indictment for him, by far
It isn't that problematic for Trump, but it might be problematic for democracy. The charges seem to be based mostly on this call-
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/03/politics/trump-brad-raffensperger-phone-call-transcript/index.html
Between team Trump and Georgia officials, where Trump lays out claims regarding potential voting irregularities. It includes stuff like this-
Trump: When are you going to do signature counts, when are you going to do signature verification on Fulton County, which you said you were going to do, and now all of a sudden you’re not doing it. When are you doing that?
Germany: We are going to do that. We’ve announced —
Hilbert: To get to this issue of the personal information and privacy issue, is it possible that the secretary of state could deputize the lawyers for the president so that we could access that information and private information without you having any kind of violation?
Trump: Well, I don’t want to know who it is. You guys can do it very confidentially. You can sign a confidentiality agreement. That’s OK. I don’t need to know names. But we go the information on this stuff that we’re talking about. We got all that information from the secretary of state.
And maybe all the counts of conspiring to access personal information, IT systems etc vanish, because Trump (and Team Trump) say a couple of times that they don't want that information, just to verify that votes were valid. Then maybe Team Trump files a SLAPP lawsuit against Georgia for conspiring to prevent him running in an election.. Which is kind of a big bitch-SLAPP given the flurry of litigation is to prevent the leading Republican candidate from publicly participating in an election.
But ahead of all that is the prospect of discovery and disclosure, including all exculpatory evidence to Trump's defence team. And because Georgia's decided to invoke RICO, his co-defendent's legal teams as well. So an opportunity for Team Trump to re-litigate the claims made regarding voting irregularities in Georgia. And perhaps that will show that there were irregularities, and Georgia did not investigate those claims thoroughly. Which then I guess could get constitutionally interesting if it ends up that Trump might have won Georgia.
But such is politics. This sort of thing has happened before, eg-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_v._Gore
Where Gore was convinced he won in Florida's 2000 election and was robbed of his victory by a bunch of hanging chads. Gore took that all the way to the Supreme Court in strong echoes of Georgia. Democrats generally overlook that election dispute. Or the way Clinton's been whining for years that Trump stole the election from her.
So I expect a bunch of downvotes from people who confuse supporting a free & fair election system and democracy with support for Trump. Having an election system voters can rely on is, after all one of those fundamentals that you really need in any representative democracy.
Re: This is the most problematic indictment for him, by far
The dems were very vocal about not wanting to certify Bush Jr and Trump. Didn't they also try to get officials to change the electoral college votes in 2016?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/18/how-the-electoral-college-works-donald-trump
Yup.
Re: This is the most problematic indictment for him, by far
If I've understood correctly (IANAL) Georgia's anti-racketeering law (RICO) specifies a non-suspendable prison sentence.
So if found guilty, go straight to jail.
Re: This is the most problematic indictment for him, by far
You got the wrong icon there!!! Go straight to jail! Do NOT pass Go, do not collect £$200
Love how you didn't mention the "T" word once in the article. From now on, can we also use the phrase "South-African born spoilt child" instead of the "E" word in El Reg articles?
"Son of former apartheid-era South African diamond mine owner".
It's a bit of a mouthful so perhaps an abbreviation would be in order.
"I can never forget that one of the most gifted, best educated nations in the world, of its own free will, surrendered its fate into the hands of a maniac." --Eric Hoffer
"All of this has happened before, and it will happen again."... see history.
Equiibrium
it's a physics thing.
bankruptcy law aficionado
I'll reuse that
"...the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."
"Odd," said Arthur, "I thought you said it was a democracy."
"I did," said Ford. "It is."
"So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't people get rid of the lizards?"
"It honestly doesn't occur to them," said Ford. "They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want."
"You mean they actually vote for the lizards?"
"Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course..."
..."Some people say that the lizards are the best thing that ever happened to them," he said. "They're completely wrong of course, completely and utterly wrong, but someone's got to say it."...
― Douglas Adams, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Obvious tedious trolls are obvious.
Please don't feed them.
Ta.
Election Integrity
" the Republican Party – which mentions "ensuring the integrity of our elections" as part of its platform."
When the Republican Party says "ensuring the integrity of our elections", that's a coded language that means "we're going to make voting as difficult as possible for people who we don't think will vote for us". Fairly contesting, and then accepting the outcome of democratic elections should be / used to be one of the pillars of modern liberal democracy, sad to see that it's in decline in one of the countries that pioneered the concept.
One of the terrible consequences of both sides moving to the extreme (not only in the US) is that losing an election is no longer an inconvenience by which you have to push your agenda from the opposition side, work on compromises with the ruling party, and work toward winning the next elections.... losing an election is now seen as an extinction-level event where your opponent will use their term in office to radically and permanently change the countries direction in ways that you think aren't simply bad, but immoral, catastrophic and irreversible. Of course a lot of that is projection, because they know that's what they would do when they are in power.
Re: Election Integrity
Most of the developed and developing world requires voter ID. In the US you usually need ID to buy booze and cigs. All this claptrap about 'our democracy' is just the uniparty running scared that they might not be able to wield ultimate power anymore.
The dems have historically screeched and screamed and more recently called for rioting whenever they've lost. Protesters burn and loot cities, show up at the white house with a guillotine, but that is all fine because they are supporting 'our democracy'.
The smell of desperation
Another! No way! I am shocked! The guy who has so far been constantly attacked with the desperate lawfare effort to keep him from running again has yet another one to the collection. Is it any wonder he is leading the polls to be the republican candidate? And if he is facing off with Biden I would be shocked if it was even a contest.
I do understand the fear of Trump winning the presidency though. They spent so much time and effort trying to damage the guy that he would be fully justified to tear his way through the corruption and kick them out hard if not have them all on charges.
They are already trying to prepare for such a situation with Hunters plea deal trying to pardon him for all his crimes not just the one he was being charged with. Luckily it didnt seem to work.
Re: The smell of desperation
"... if he is facing off with Biden..."
It's terrible for the state of US democracy that the 2 presumed candidates would potentially be 82 and 79 if taking office in 2026, with a term running until they would be 86 and 83. Trump has a litany of health problems, don't know about Biden but he comes across as rather frail. There's a strong possibility that their respective vice-presidents would end up as unelected president-by-default. It's not just an issue of their potentially being incapable of acting (or actually dying) while in office, it's having people in charge whose whole worldview is obsolete.
Are there really no competent politicians under the age of 70 in the whole of the US, on either side of the divide????
This is the most problematic indictment for him, by far
Not only is it a state charge, which federal pardons cannot touch (and the governor can't issue pardons in Georgia, and probably wouldn't anyway since he's not one of Trump's brainwashed lackeys) but all those other people indicted are a HUGE problem for him.
Because they can't think like they can with a federal indictment "well I can play a waiting game, and if Trump or a republican lackey gets in the White House they can make these charges go away or pardon me". Now they are faced with the prospect that if they are convicted they will serve their full sentence, and for some of them that will be akin to a life sentence. There is now tons of pressure on them to cooperate against Trump, and with so many co-conspirators it is a sort of a race because the first ones to cooperate get better deals than those who wait.
The beer is for me to enjoy while watching Trump and those who helped him attempt to overthrow our democracy get some long overdue accountability, and the mad scramble as word gets out that one or two have cooperated and then the rest break down the door of the prosecutor all wanting their chance to testify against each other and against Trump. Rudy already said some stuff last weekend trying to implicate a couple of the others and downplay his own role, so that might already be starting!