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Cooperation with government by key leader of hacking group results in lesser sentence

Kim Zetter, Wired – As a reward for his extensive cooperation helping prosecutors hunt down his fellow hackers, the government is seeking time served for the long-awaited sentencing of top LulzSec leader Hector Xavier Monsegur, also known as “Sabu.” After delaying his sentencing for nearly three years, the government has asked a federal court to sentence Monsegur to time served — just seven months — calling him an “extremely valuable and productive cooperator” in a document that details for the first time his extensive cooperation providing “unprecedented access to LulzSec.” Monsegur, who has long been despised by members of LulzSec for his reported snitching, faced a possible sentence of between 259 and 317 months imprisonment under U.S. sentencing guidelines. But the U.S. Probation Office and prosecutors have asked for a reduced sentence “without regard to the otherwise applicable mandatory minimum sentence in this case” in a motion submitted to the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York on Friday. A top leader of the hacking group LulzSec, Monsegur turned informant after he was secretly approached by authorities in June 2011, providing information that led to the subsequent arrest of other top members of LuzSec and Anonymous, including Jeremy Hammond, aka “Anarchaos”of Chicago, who was sentenced last year for his role in the hack of private intelligence firm, Stratfor. The court document provides a timeline of events around Monsegur’s cooperation with authorities that many have suspected for years, including his efforts to draw fellow hackers into incriminating conversations.”

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