Suspected 'hacker' who demanded $1 million in Bitcoins from Mitt Romney caught and charged
A Tennessee man has been charged over a high-profile extortion and wire fraud scam involving former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's tax returns.
Michael Mancil Brown, 34, of Franklin, Tennessee faces six counts of wire fraud and six counts of extortion over his alleged involvement in a plot to blackmail Romney with threats to expose his tax records during last year's presidential campaign.
These tax records were supposedly swiped from the Franklin offices of PricewaterhouseCoopers before Romney was offered the chance to block their publication for $1m, payable in Bitcoins. Demand letters were also sent to Republican Party offices in Tennessee and PwC. The blackmailer offered to release the mysterious documents if $1m was paid into a separate Bitcoin account.
