Pirate Bay Cofounder Indicted on Hacking Charges
The Pirate Bay cofounder Gottfrid Svartholm was indicted today on hacking charges unrelated to his one-year prison sentence for running the world’s most notorious and illicit file-sharing service.
According to Swedish prosecutors, the 27-year-old is accused of hacking into Nordea Bank to withdraw money, and of hacking into several Swedish companies and the government’s federal taxing agency.
“A large amount of data from companies and agencies was taken during the hack, including a large amount of personal data, such as personal identity numbers of people with protected identities,” prosecutor Henrik Olin said in a statement.
Three others were indicted in connection to the hacks, prosecutors said. Olin told Swedish media that Svartholm was the “main person and brains behind the hacker attack.” According to the indictment, the authorities seized a computer and chat transcripts of Svartholm and the other suspects.