Security News > 2024 > January > BreachForums boss busted for bond blunders – including using a VPN

The cybercriminal behind BreachForums was this week arrested for violating the terms of his pretrial release and will now be held in custody until his sentencing hearing.

Fitzpatrick's sentencing hearing was originally scheduled for November 17, 2023, but was pushed back at the request [PDF] of his legal representatives after a psycho-sexual expert said they were unable to complete their evaluation of Fitzpatrick in time for the hearing due to a large workload. It has now been moved to January 19 [PDF].

BreachForums was created by Fitzpatrick shortly after the fall of similar site RaidForums, which was taken down by law enforcement in 2022 after six years in operation.

According to Fitzpatrick's plea deal [PDF], he controlled the BreachForums site for at least a year between March 2022 and 2023, along with other admins.

Today, BreachForums still exists under a new domain and is thought to be run by the criminal known as Baphomet, Fitzpatrick's closest ally during the period in which he ran the forum.

Following the original takedown in 2023, a litany of copycat sites emerged attempting to piggyback off the popularity of the BreachForums brand, though many at the time were wary of them potentially being controlled by the FBI to catch additional criminals.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/01/05/breachforums_admin_arrested_again/