81
LOS ANGELES » Two men were sentenced to federal prison for hacking into the email accounts of professional poker players and using naked pictures and private information to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars, prosecutors said Monday.
Tyler Schrier, 23, was sentenced to 3½ years in prison and Keith James Hudson, 39, was sentenced to two years, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Wendy T. Wu.
Hudson admitted hacking into a player’s account to steal naked pictures and plotted with Schrier on how to extort players, prosecutors said.
Schrier had pleaded guilty to conspiracy and other crimes in the fall 2010 scheme to hack the email account of poker pro Joe Sebok.
Armed with intimate emails and photos, Schrier threatened to make them public unless Sebok and other victims paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, prosecutors said. Schrier later sent a nude photo of Sebok to about 100 people.
Sebok addressed the court during sentencing Monday, saying the plot’s victims had “their lives altered and shattered in irreparable ways.” He said the photos caused him to lose work representing brands in the poker industry, and damaged his reputation moving forward.
Schrier also admitted that he had previously extorted more than $26,000 in a separate plot.
