Florida man accused of Clinton Foundation hack to plead guilty

[February 23, 2017]  By Nate Raymond

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Florida man accused of trying to hack the Clinton Foundation in 2015 is expected to plead guilty on Thursday, months after he was sentenced in a related case to 42 years in prison over child pornography discovered on his computers during the probe.

Timothy Sedlak, 43, is scheduled to plead guilty in federal court in Manhattan, according to court records. Prosecutors accused him in September 2015 of trying to gain access to an unnamed New York-based global charitable organization's network.

Prosecutors have never named the organization. But a court filing obtained by Reuters said U.S. Secret Service agents in 2015 questioned Sedlak about notes they found referencing former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea Clinton.

Sedlak, who called himself a private investigator, told the agents he was researching whether charities were unintentionally providing funding to Islamic militant groups, and said the Clintons "came up in his research," the filing said.

The filing's description of the Clintons matched prosecutors' descriptions of two previously unnamed individuals who were said to be an "executive" at the charity and an "individual who has been publicly affiliated" with it.

Chelsea Clinton is the vice chair of Clinton Foundation, which was founded by her father, former U.S. President Bill Clinton. Its full name is the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.

The filing, a summary of a Secret Service agent's interview with Sedlak, was downloaded by Reuters on Feb. 3 and soon after was replaced by a redacted version removing the Clintons' names.

A spokeswoman for Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and Sedlak's lawyer declined comment. Clinton Foundation representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

The investigation into Sedlak, of Ocoee, Florida, predated probes into cyber attacks on Democrats during the 2016 presidential election.

U.S. intelligence agencies in January released an assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a covert effort through the cyber attacks to help Republican Donald Trump's electoral chances by discrediting Clinton.

Timothy Sedlak , sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roy Dalton in Orlando after a federal jury in May found him guilty on charges including that he produced and possessed child pornography, is pictured in this undated booking photo. Courtesy Seminole County Sheriff's Office/Handout via REUTERS

Prosecutors have said that Sedlak launched about 390,000 unsuccessful attempts to gain unauthorized access to the charitable organization's computer network.

Following his arrest, authorities discovered files on his computers containing child pornography, including a number of images depicting Sedlak himself sexually abusing a toddler, prosecutors said.

Sedlak as a result was separately charged in Florida, where a federal jury in Orlando in May found him guilty on charges including that he produced and possessed child pornography. He was sentenced in August to 42 years in prison.

(Editing by Matthew Lewis)

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