Jack Teixeira, Massachusetts Air National Guard, charged Leaks secret defense secrets on Discordadmitted his guilt. The New York Times reports The 22-year-old pleaded not guilty on Monday and said he faces up to 16 years in prison. Had he gone to trial and lost, he could have faced up to 60 years.
In federal court in Boston, Teixeira was found guilty of six counts of “willful retention and transmission of national defense information” under the Espionage Act. Federal authorities arrested the pilot at his mother’s house last April.
Air National Guard accused of sharing classified documents MinecraftFocused on the Discord server in late 2022. The leaked files include a wealth of information about the war in Ukraine (including details of military equipment and Russian and Ukrainian troop movements), as well as Russia’s attempts to acquire more weapons from Egypt and Turkey. The content eventually landed on 4chan, Telegram and other Discord servers.
The leaked documents also include a report on the hacking of an unnamed American company by a “foreign enemy” and details of a plan to attack US soldiers serving overseas.
The government said it found no evidence of deliberate espionage motives and did not charge Teixeira with acting as a criminal informant. Edward Snowden. Instead, prosecutors concluded, he wanted to gain status with his online friends. The New York Times A senior federal law enforcement official, who spoke anonymously to the newspaper, said he would not have agreed to a reduced sentence if the DOJ had uncovered more malicious motives.
Presiding Judge Indira Talwani scheduled a hearing for September to finalize her approval of the deal. Penalties range from 11 years to more than 16 years in prison. His lawyer, Michael K. Bachrach, told reporters that Teixeira’s immaturity played a role, and he vowed to seek the lowest possible sentence. “He is very childish,” said the lawyer. “We’ll be able to determine why his youth plays an important role.”
A NYT investigation More than 9,500 Teixeira messages released last May “revealed his obsession with guns, mass shootings, shady conspiracy theories, and proved he was right and he knew.”
