Charlotte Man Guilty of $2.5M Tech Firm Extortion

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CHARLOTTE, NC – A Charlotte man is staring down a federal sentence after a jury slammed him yesterday for a cold-blooded cyber extortion plot against a major D.C.-based tech company. Cameron Curry, 27, was convicted on six counts of using interstate communications to shake down the company for $2.5 million.

The scheme unfolded after Curry, a former data analyst for the firm, learned his contract wouldn’t be renewed. Instead of moving on, Curry weaponized his access to company data, digging up sensitive personnel files and corporate secrets. Starting in December 2023, posing online as “Loot,” he unleashed a barrage of over 60 threatening emails targeting employees and executives.

Curry didn’t mince words. The emails promised a public data dump – including personal information of employees – and a full-scale reputational hit if the company didn’t cough up $2.5 million in cryptocurrency. The feds say Curry explicitly threatened to report a data breach and leak the stolen information to the public if his demands weren’t met.

The FBI raided Curry’s home in January 2024, seizing the electronics used to carry out the scheme. U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson for the Western District of North Carolina announced the guilty verdict following a three-day trial presided over by Judge Kenneth D. Bell. Sentencing details haven’t been released, but Curry’s looking at significant time for this brazen attempt to cash in on stolen data.