The operator of an infamous revenge porn website is accused of masterminding a plot to hack into the email accounts of hundreds of unsuspecting victims to steal nude photos that later appeared on the site.
Hunter Moore, 27, of Woodland, Calif.-along with his alleged co-conspirator, Charles Evens, 25, of Studio City, Calif.-face several counts of conspiracy and aggravated identity theft, amongst a host of other charges detailed in a 13-page federal grand jury indictment. F.B.I agents arrested the men without incident at their respective homes, according to several news reports.
Moore gained worldwide notoriety when the BBC dubbed him "The Most Hated Man on the Internet" in reference to his now-defunct revenge porn site, isanyoneup.com. There, jilted lovers could post explicit photos of their former paramours without permission for purposes of revenge. The indictment alleges that Moore, unhappy with the volume of photos posted by the site's users, hired Evens to illicitly obtain photos by hacking into "hundreds" of email accounts.
The indictment alleges Evens sent an email to Moore requesting $250 for "nude pictures of 6 guys and 6 girls." Moore instructed Evens to set up an anonymous PayPal account in order to avoid detection, according to the indictment.
"The moral of the story is that his revenge porn site wasn't a good enough business model, and that he had to engage in illegal activity to populate the site with pictures," Wes Hsu, assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California and head of the office's Cyber and Intellectual Property Crime Section, told NBC News.
The indictment named at least eight primary victims and listed 15-counts of conspiracy, seven counts of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information and seven counts of aggravated identity theft.
Moore and Evens face 5 years in federal prison on the conspiracy and computer hacking counts, and the aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory two-year sentence, NBC News reported.
Revenge porn activist Charlotte Laws, who says her daughter Kayla is one of the victims named in the indictment, told Time she was "ecstatic" upon learning of the arrests.
"We're super pleased that the FBI have brought this to fruition," Laws said. "I've talked to several of the victims and they are extremely pleased and I know all the victims are going to feel happy and they are going to feel that finally justice is being served."
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