LOS ANGELES – “Revenge porn king” Hunter Moore has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges of hacking and identity theft in a bid to limit prison time, according to a Wednesday filing in federal court.
Moore and an alleged accomplice were indicted on 15 federal counts of conspiracy and cybercrime in January 2014. Had they been convicted on all counts, each faced 72 years behind bars.
If the court accepts Moore’s plea to a handful of the charges, his sentence likely will range from two to seven years, plus an additional three years of probation.
Moore’s legal troubles sprang from the original “revenge porn” website, IsAnyoneUp.com, which he founded in 2010. The site encouraged bitter men to post nude and sexually explicit images of their ex-wives and -lovers, along with the victims’ names and locations. The site exploded almost overnight. In 2011, Moore claimed to make $13,000 monthly from advertising sales.
That same year, Moore upped his game with the alleged assistance of hacker Charles “Gary” Evens. According to an FBI statement after the pair’s arrest, Moore paid Evens, now 26, to hack into hundreds of personal computers, email accounts and other digital storage media and communications in order to round up embarrassing material. Moore then posted the illegally obtained images to the website.
In early 2012, Moore boasted about a monthly income of $20,000 from IsAnyoneUp.com.
Moore’s plea hearing is scheduled for Feb. 25, but attorneys in the case said “the most hated man on the internet” probably won’t return to court until March.
Evens, who pleaded not-guilty, is scheduled to face a jury March 17.
Image: Hunter Moore selfie via his Facebook page.
