Bitcoin
Former Infrastructure Engineer Sentenced to 32 Months for Bitcoin Extortion Scheme
A Missouri man received a prison sentence after hacking his former employer's systems and demanding a ransom paid in Bitcoin.
A 59-year-old Missouri man, Daniel Rhyne, has been sentenced to 32 months in prison for sabotaging the computer systems of a New Jersey industrial firm and attempting to extort the company for a Bitcoin ransom. The sentence was handed down on October 5, 2026, by U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp in Trenton federal court.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Rhyne pleaded guilty on April 1, 2026, to charges of extortion related to threatening computer damage and intentional damage to a protected computer. In November 2023, while acting as a core infrastructure engineer, Rhyne initiated unauthorized remote desktop sessions, deleted administrator accounts, altered passwords, and shut down servers.
Court records show that on November 25, 2023, Rhyne emailed company staff demanding roughly 20 Bitcoin—valued at approximately $750,000 at the time—in exchange for halting the server disruptions. The investigation was conducted by the FBI's Newark and Kansas City offices and prosecuted by the Cybercrime Unit in Newark.
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