United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and Steven Ricciardi, Special Agent in charge of the United States Secret Service, announced today that Stephen Watt, age 25, of New York, was charged with conspiracy.
Allegedly Watt was a member of a conspiracy which, between 2003 and 2008, unlawfully gained electronic access to corporate computer networks, downloaded customers' credit and debit card information, and fraudulently used that information and sold the information to others for fraudulent use. Further allegations say that Watt modified and provided a "sniffer" program used by the conspirators to monitor and capture the data crossing corporate computer networks.
If convicted on these charges, Watt faces up to five years imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $ 250,000 fine.
