Keith James Hudson and Tyler Schrier recently pleaded guilty to a “sextortion” scheme where they admitted to illegally hacking an email account of a professional poker player and then gaining access to some nude pictures which were found within the email inbox.
Both individuals were sentenced by the court to prison sentences for their attempt to blackmail Joe Sebok. Both individuals admitted that they had not only targeted Sebok but a number of other high profile individuals and threatened to pose their nude pictures online, if they were not paid large sums of money on the basis of confidentiality. Hudson is 39 years and Schrier is only 23.
Joe Sebok was present during the sentencing which took place in a U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. He stated that the acts committed by both individuals had significantly damaged and tainted his reputation as an individual and has hindered him from making a proper living as a poker professional.
He also said that the actions of Hudson and Schrier were also responsible for damaging the reputation of a number of other players and has brought a lot of humiliation.
Attorney’s spokesman Thom Mrozek confirmed that Sebok said
In short, I was no longer able to maintain my then-current level of participation in the poker industry, representing the brands that I had been previously, as well as greatly destroying my ability to do so with new companies moving forward. Without belabouring the point too much, it was a nightmare, and one that I was forced to live through with millions of people watching
Tyler Schrier appeared to be the mastermind behind the entire plot and was facing a stiff penalty of 17 years in jail. However, after pleading guilty to extortion and conspiracy among other charges, received a sentence of 42 months in jail. Hudsom on the other hand was facing jail time of up to 5 years, but after he plead guilty to conspiracy, unauthorized access to a protected computer and extortion, his sentence was reduced to only 2 years in jail.
The documents produced in court revealed that it was Hudson who had hacked the email accounts and got nude pictures from Sebok’s account. He then sent them to Schrier, who started to blackmail Sebok and asked for large sums of money to be given to him or credits be deposited in online poker accounts. There were a number of other individuals who also brought charges against Hudson and Schrier but their names were kept confidential.
