Posted on 09/09/2019 3:37:05 PM PDT by MarvinStinson
A Haverford College student who used a campus computer to attempt to hack into an IRS database to obtain Donald Trump’s tax returns days before the 2016 presidential election pleaded guilty Tuesday to two misdemeanor crimes in federal court.
Justin Hiemstra, 22, who finished his studies in May but will not get his degree until he completes a study-abroad program next May, told Judge Cynthia Rufe that he did not know what he would have done with the tax returns if he and classmate Andrew Harris had succeeded in obtaining them on Nov. 2, 2016.
“It was a time when Donald Trump’s tax returns were of interest,” said Hiemstra, a Fulbright Scholar who speaks fluent Russian.
“I don’t think that has changed,” Rufe responded.
Hiemstra, a native of St. Paul Park, Minn., pleaded guilty to accessing a computer without authorization and attempting to access a computer without authorization to obtain government information. The maximum sentence he faces for both crimes is two years in prison, two years of supervised release, and a $200,000 fine.
Rufe tentatively set a sentencing hearing for Dec. 16, but said she may reschedule it to allow Hiemstra to complete a Boren Scholarship program studying math and Russian in Kazakhstan. The U.S. Defense Department-funded program will begin Aug. 21 and end May 13, said Hiemstra’s lawyer, Michael van der Veen.
“My client is an intelligent, inquisitive, and idealistic young guy,” van der Veen told reporters after the hearing. “He thought that he could get the tax returns that were promised to him by the candidate.”
Hiemstra, who is free on bail, should be sentenced to a diversion program instead of prison, van der Veen said. “He’s a really nice young guy who had an error in judgment without very much forethought.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony J. Wzorek declined to say what sentence he would seek. He said Trump and everyone else deserves to have their privacy protected.
“If your tax returns were being accessed, or mine were, it’s just as important as Donald Trump’s tax returns. You file your tax returns, you assume they’re going to be kept private, they are kept private by the IRS. When people try to break into the website to obtain those tax returns it violates everybody’s rights,” Wzorek said after the hearing.
Wzorek said he did not oppose allowing Hiemstra to leave the country after pleading guilty because the charges are misdemeanors for which guidelines call for a minimal sentence.
Federal prosecutors said that six days before the 2016 election, Hiemstra and classmate Harris entered Haverford’s computer lab and attempted to obtain candidate Trump’s tax returns by filing a Free Application for Student Aid. Harris was familiar with the application process because he had recently completed an application himself.
If all the entered information on the FAFSA matches information on the previously filed-tax return, the application retrieves the previously filed tax return.
Hiemstra and Harris used another student’s login credentials to gain access to a computer, then opened a false FAFSA application in the name of a Trump family member. But they found that someone already had obtained the ID for Donald Trump and had set up a password.
Using “social engineering” and Google, the students guessed the answers to the challenge questions and reset the password. For reasons federal prosecutors did not explain, Hiemstra and Harris tried four times, but were unsuccessful when they tried to import Trump’s federal tax information.
“It’s surprising they didn’t catch them until four tries,” said David Cay Johnston, the Pulitzer Prize-winning tax journalist. “The IRS gets numerous intrusion attempts every day. Because of privacy concerns, they have extraordinary measures to identify who tries to look at their files.”
In addition, the U.S. Department of Education monitors and logs all activity related to the application process. Investigators traced the hack to the Haverford computer lab. Interviews with fellow students led the investigators to Hiemstra and Harris.
Haverford expelled Harris in October 2017, according to court documents.
Don’t drop the soap.
“Idealistic”??? Only by the New York Times definition - invading the privacy of conservatives but not liberals.
most Americans don’t want to see his taxes (and they’re so complex he has to hire a big CPA team to do them anyway)...
we know he’s made a lot of money
and
we know that since he’s in business and has lots of real estate too, that his taxes must include many tax deductions (this being the system that CONGRESS has provided)
do I like the tax system? no.
do I wanna see PDT’s taxes? I’d much rather watch Wile E. Coyote cartoon reruns, thanks anyway
The D’s are crazy to think they can make any political hay out of a president’s taxes
they’re only making fools of themselves, imho
“...to complete a Boren Scholarship program studying math and Russian in Kazakhstan. The U.S. Defense Department-funded program will begin Aug. 2...”
The kid illegally hacks into a U.S. Federal Government computer (IRS)...in an effort to interfere in a U.S. Presidential election...and still gets to participate in a program funded by the U.S. Federal Government (DOD)?
WTH?
> who finished his studies in May but will not get his degree until he completes a study-abroad program next May
Convicted of a crime with a 2-year jail sentence and they’re going to let him out of the country, too.
What a farce of law we have. The left gets a free pass on everything, we are completely unprotected by law.
They show their true character by abandoning policy debate in favor of “the politics of personal destruction”, as Bill Clinton once so eloquently described it.
The road to Hell is paved more by idealism than good intentions.
Hitler and Stalin and the rest of the mass murderers surely were quite idealistic, their ideals so high it mitigates what they did. According to this defense.
I'd put him in jail for 2 year. If he's a good kid, which I doubt, he could use that time to build himself into something valuable for himself and the world.
... 'didn't know what we would do with the files' ... I doubt that, kiddo.
They want to publicize who his business partners are so the SJWs can blackmail them into abandoning doing business with him.
Add this to the list of why the income tax should be abolished...
The IRS _cannot_ protect your personal information—full stop.
Had he hacked into Obama’s transcript and found he (Obama) was registered as a foreign student, he would have spent 2 years in the slammer.
Ans the Judge is so considerate and letting him travel to Kazakhstan before his sentencing. He will probably get a suspended sentence and public service working for Antifa.
More likely vanished or found dead in an alley.
The judge was nominated to the bench by W. That explains a lot.
Well he is obviously a commie Rat, so you shouldn’t expect him to face consequences. I’m surprised he even had to go to court. Justice might yet be served since Kazakhstan doesn’t seem to be the safest place in the world.
Interesting, a commie Rat majoring in math and Russia going to Kazakhstan. Frankly, sounds like CIA recruit to me.
“He thought that he could get the tax returns that were promised to him by the candidate.”
The lawyer is a liar. According to this report this was said to the public, not too the judge. Say that to the judge and get sanctioned.
“My client is an intelligent, inquisitive, and idealistic young guy,” van der Veen told reporters after the hearing. “He thought that he could get the tax returns that were promised to him by the candidate.”
He says his client is intelligent and then says he is a total moron in the next line. So this “intelligent” man thought he could “hack” a government system to get tax returns that he is not entitled to
He got caught, so he wasn’t that intelligent, and was a lousy hacker. Only good hackers don’t get caught.
Anyone also notice how this “Russian Hacker” was out to help Hillary? Russia Collusion? Did Hillary know about this?
BTW kid, the IRS made a statement years ago that Donald Trump’s tax returns are NOT in the IRS computer systems, instead they are stored in a vault in a secured room that require two separate people with access to open up.
Sorry Mario, but the tax returns are in another castle
wow!
how sick they are!
and dangerous if they continue that kind of blackmailing scheme
“Hiemstra, a native of St. Paul Park, Minn., pleaded guilty to accessing a computer without authorization and attempting to access a computer without authorization to obtain government information. The maximum sentence he faces for both crimes is two years in prison, two years of supervised release, and a $200,000 fine.”
These sentences are woefully inadequate, he should incarcerated for ten times that length and ten times that long on probation.
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