Federal Grand Jury Indicts Seattle Man for Causing Damage to the Website of Leagle.com

DALLAS — A Seattle man has been charged in a federal indictment, returned late yesterday, with one count of knowingly causing the transmission of a command to a protected computer, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas (NDTX).

Kamyar Jahanrakhshan, aka “Kamyar Jahan Rakhshan,” “Andy or Andrew Rakhshan,” “Andy or Andrew Kamyar,” and “Kamiar or Kamier Rakhshan,” 37, of Seattle, Washington, was arrested late last month in the Western District of Washington (WDWA) on a related federal criminal complaint, filed on July 29, 2016, in the U.S. District Court for the NDTX. He made his initial appearance before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in federal court in the WDWA on July 26, 2017, and was detained. The U.S. Magistrate Judge set Rakhshan’s identity hearing in WDWA on August 14, 2017, after which, Rakhshan should be transported to Dallas to appear in a federal court in the NDTX.

The indictment alleges that between December 30, 2014 and January 25, 2015, Jahanrakhshan knowingly caused the transmission of a program, information, code, and command, and, as a result of such conduct, intentionally caused a denial of service attack on the website Leagle.com without authorization to a protected computer causing a loss of at least $5,000 during a one-year period.

An indictment is an accusation by a federal grand jury, and a defendant is entitled to the presumption of innocence unless proven guilty. If convicted, however, Jahanrakhshan faces the maximum statutory penalty of ten years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. Restitution may be ordered.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case, with assistance from the FBI Dallas cyber squad, Seattle cyber task force, Toronto police department, and the Australian federal police. Assistant U.S. Attorney C.S. Heath is in charge of the prosecution.

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