Former federal employee is behind bars for attempting to sell personal information of Veterans and Coworkers. Also, a former federal contractor heads home from prison.
Philip Hall, who used to be a program analyst for the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) in Arkansas, started serving his 46-month prison sentence last month. He was arrested in December 2017 for trying to sell personal identifiable information of not only Veterans but of other VA employees as well. When attempting to sell the information, which included names, dates of birth, and social security numbers, he said the data was particularly valuable because it included Veterans that were receiving pension income and feds that made $50,000 a year or more. On a 2017 phone call, he asked for $100,000 in exchange for the info. That call also happened to be recorded by federal agents.
Along with almost four years in prison, Hall will have 2 years on parole afterward. One of the charges he pled guilty to was “aggravated identity theft.” He made his guilty plea in September 2019, so it does not appear that this was the same data breach that the VA reported last year.
Reality Winner Out of Federal Prison
On a similar note, a former federal contractor was recently released to home confinement. The former translator for the Air Force made headlines in June 2017 when she was caught leaking classified information to the press. Her unusual name, Reality Winner, also garnered the public’s attention. The now 29-year-old is still in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons but has been sent home ahead of her original November 23rd release date.
She was charged in 2018 with a single count of leaking national security information and received the maximum possible sentence- almost 5 years; a move some considered controversial. The time in jail that she spent before her official sentencing counted toward her time served. Winner was arrested in June 2017 for sneaking a classified document out of an NSA facility in Augusta, GA, where she had been working. She printed the document and concealed it in her pantyhose. Although which media outlet she leaked it to was never officially made public, “The Interceptor” released an article about a secret NSA report that was dated May 5, 2017, and pertained to Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election. This news story came out on the same day that the DOJ made Winner’s arrest public.
Until Next Time,
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