UPI

U.S. names, sanctions 3 Iranian suspects in Trump campaign computer hack

Published

4 months ago

September 27, 2024

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By Chris Benson

Iranian hackers stole sensitive information from the Trump campaign over the summer and emailed it to individuals affiliated with the Biden campaign, U.S. investigators revealed days ago, including internal documents relating to the vetting of Trump’s vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. JD Vance. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI

1 of 2 | Iranian hackers stole sensitive information from the Trump campaign over the summer and emailed it to individuals affiliated with the Biden campaign, U.S. investigators revealed days ago, including internal documents relating to the vetting of Trump’s vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. JD Vance. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 27 (UPI) — The United States unsealed on Friday criminal charges on three suspected computer hackers allegedly linked to Iran’s government and connected to a hack aimed at former President Donald Trump.

Masoud Jalili, 36; Seyyed Ali Aghamiri, 34; and Yasar Balaghi, 37, were the three named as alleged hackers and who have been accused by the United States of multiple crimes, including aggravated identity theft and wire fraud on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for the Iranian government.

According to the federal government, the three currently reside in Iran.

“This indictment alleges a serious and sustained effort by a state-sponsored terrorist organization to gather intelligence through hacking personal accounts so they can use the hacked materials to harm Americans and corruptly influence our election,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves said Friday in a DOJ statement.

And in a separate move on Friday, the Treasury named seven individuals the United States believes sought to “influence or interfere” in this year’s and the previous presidential election in 2020.

The three men accused in the multi-year hacking have been charged with 18 counts, including wire fraud, identity theft, conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization and hacking conspiracy.

“Iranian state-sponsored actors have undertaken a variety of malicious cyber activities, such as hack-and-leak operations and spear-phishing, in an attempt to undermine confidence in the United States’ election processes and institutions while also seeking to influence the political campaigns,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Friday in a statement.

Meanwhile, the government of Iran has denied the U.S. allegations.

DOJ says their activities were part of a more-recent phase in a “wide-ranging hacking conspiracy” in support of Iran’s ISRGC which targets former and current U.S. officials.

The Iranian hackers stole sensitive information from the Trump campaign over the summer and emailed it to individuals affiliated with the Biden campaign, U.S. investigators revealed days ago, including internal documents relating to the vetting of Trump’s vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

In June, the hacking scheme began when the alleged Iran-linked hackers targeted longtime Trump advisor Roger Stone by hijacking Stone’s email account in order to target campaign staff.

Microsoft had issued a warning that a hacker group run by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps known as Mint Sandstorm had sent a “spear-phishing” email to a “high-ranking official of a presidential campaign from a compromised email account of a former senior advisor.”

It was part of a “wide-ranging” malicious cyber scheme, according to a newly unsealed 37-page indictment in the District of Columbia’s U.S District Court, which outlined the use of “spearphishing and social engineering techniques to target and compromise the accounts of current and former U.S. government officials, members of the media, nongovernmental organizations, and individuals associated with U.S. political campaigns,” the indictment states.

According to U.S. intelligence assessments, the government of Iran is working to undermine Trump’s presidential campaign through covert social media efforts — akin to what Russia did in 2020 to aid Trump’s slim electoral victory — while Russia this year is focused on subverting the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris.

“They are trying to influence the presidential campaign,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco warned days ago, adding Iran is “pushing out fake personas, pushing out propaganda and using the Gaza conflict almost as kerosene to stoke divisions.”

In August, the Trump campaign blamed the hack on “foreign sources hostile to the United States.”

In a previous joint statement, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence had said the emails were sent in June and July and “contained an excerpt taken from stolen, non-public material from former President Trump’s campaign.”

The State Department is offering a reward of up to $10 million for further information, according to DOS.

UPI

Georgia Supreme Court overturns absentee ballot extension in Cobb County

Published

3 months ago

November 5, 2024

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By Sheri Walsh

Elections workers in Georgia process absentee ballots Monday, as Georgia’s Supreme Court reversed a lower court’s 3-day ballot extension in the swing state. The court ruled that 3,000 absentee ballots — which were sent out late in Cobb County — will only be counted if they are received by Election Day. File Photo by Erik S. Lesser/EPA-EFE

Nov. 4 (UPI) — Georgia’s Supreme Court reversed a lower court’s ballot extension in the swing state Monday, ruling that 3,000 absentee ballots — which were sent out late in Cobb County — will only be counted if they are received by Election Day.

Monday’s ruling reversed a lower judge’s decision that originally gave voters an extension to Nov. 8, the same deadline for overseas ballots, after Cobb County elections officials missed the ballot mailing deadline.

Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration Chairwoman Tori Silas blamed faulty equipment and a late surge in absentee ballot requests for the delay.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit Friday to extend the deadline to Nov. 8.

On Monday, the higher court ordered the Cobb County Board of Elections to count only those votes received by 7 p.m. on Election Day.

The court also ordered elections officials to notify affected voters of the change and to “keep separate” any absentee ballots received after Election Day, but before Nov. 8, “in a secure, safe and sealed container separate from other voted ballots.”

Georgia is a critical battleground state in Tuesday’s presidential election between Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Huge election integrity victory in Georgia. Democrat-run Cobb County wanted to accept 3,000 absentee ballots after the Election Day deadline. We took this case to the Georgia Supreme Court,” Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement Monday.

“We just got word that we won the case. Election Day is Election Day — not the week after. We will keep fighting, keep winning and keep sharing updates,” Whatley added.

The ACLU also released a statement, urging voters — impacted by the ruling — to vote in person on Election Day.

“Because of this ruling, we urge all affected voters to prioritize vote in person on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024, if at all possible,” the ACLU said. “If a voter has their absentee ballot but cannot vote in person on Election Day, they should hand deliver that ballot to their county elections office as soon as possible.”

UPI

Elon Musk’s $1M cash giveaway for voters to continue, judge rules

Published

3 months ago

November 5, 2024

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By Sheri Walsh

Billionaire Elon Musk rallies supporters for former President Donald Trump at the Butler Farm Show grounds in Pennsylvania on October 5. On Monday, a judge in Pennsylvania declined to issue an injunction against Musk’s America PAC, allowing a $1 million daily giveaway to registered voters to continue. Photo by Archie Carpenter/UPI. | License Photo

Nov. 4 (UPI) — A judge in the swing state of Pennsylvania ruled Monday that Elon Musk‘s daily $1 million giveaway to registered voters in battleground states can continue, with one last prize to be handed out on Election Day.

Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Angelo Foglietta declined to issue an emergency injunction that would have stopped the tech billionaire’s America PAC giveaway, which rewards voters who sign a pledge to support the Constitution.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner argued, in the lawsuit filed last week, that the giveaway was a data grab and was illegal.

“They were scammed for their information,” Krasner said. “It has almost unlimited use.”

Musk’s lawyers blasted the lawsuit, calling it a “dreadful violation of constitutional rights” and a violation of free speech. Musk, who supports Donald Trump, called Krasner’s lawsuit a “publicity stunt” for his disagreements with the former president. Monday’s hearing was delayed last week after Musk’s legal team filed to move the case to federal court.

Krasner testified the awards were supposed to be issued at random. “This was all a political marketing masquerading as a lottery,” Krasner claimed Monday.

America PAC attorney Chris Gober responded, saying the giveaway was not a lottery because winners are not determined by chance. They are spokespeople, who “earn” $1 million, he argued, adding “There is no prize to be won.”

The recipients “are selected based on their suitability to serve as a spokesperson for America PAC,” Gober said, claiming the money is payment for their work. “We know exactly who will be announced as the $1 million recipient today and tomorrow.”

Musk announced the contest during a Trump campaign rally on Oct. 19.

“Every day, from now through Nov. 5, America PAC will be giving away $1M to someone in swing states who signed our petition to support free speech and the right to bear arms!” Musk wrote in a post on X. “We want to make sure that everyone in swing states hears about this and I suspect this will ensure they do.”

UPI

N.C. gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson seeks $50M from CNN over ‘Nazi’ article

Published

3 months ago

October 15, 2024

electionlive_gcw35j

By Mike Heuer

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson speaks at the 2024 Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on July 15. On Tuesday he sued CNN and another defendant for defamation for claiming he made offensive online posts and frequented a North Carolina pornographic video store. File Photo by Tannen Maury/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 15 (UPI) — North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson on Tuesday sued CNN for publishing posts allegedly made by Robinson on a pornographic website many years ago and seeks at least $50 million.

Robinson, who is the Republican candidate in North Carolina’s gubernatorial race, accuses CNN and co-defendant Louis Love Money of two counts of defamation in the lawsuit filed Tuesday in North Carolina’s Wake County Superior Court.

“This is a high-tech lynching on a candidate who has been targeted from day one by folks who disagree with me politically and want to see me destroyed,” Robinson told media during a press conference in Raleigh, N.C.

“We are glad to take these first steps to fight back against what we consider to be one of the greatest examples of political interference in this state’s history,” Robinson said.

Robinson described CNN as “one of the world’s most well-recognized media companies” and Money as a 52-year-old North Carolina resident and lead singer of a punk rock band called Trailer Park Orchestra. Robinson says Money recently changed his name from Louis Alan Wooten.

Robinson said that on Aug. 11 Money posted a music video titled “The Lt. Governor Owes Me Money” the depicts a masked man that Robinson says represents him entering a pornographic video store to buy and watch pornographic videos.

Money, in the video, sings lyrics that accuse Robinson of owing money for a “bootleg” pornographic video that Money allegedly made for the lieutenant governor.

Robinson said a “major online publication” called The Assembly — which he says is affiliated with George Soros — on Sept. 3 published an article titled, “Ex-Porn Shop Employees Say Mark Robinson Was a Regular. He Denies It.”

In the article, Money accuses Robinson of frequenting a pornographic video store where he worked during the 1990s and early 2000s and “spending a good amount of money” on viewing and buying pornographic videos, Robinson said.

CNN published an article on Sept. 19 titled, “‘I’m a black NAZI!’: NC GOP nominee for governor made dozens of disturbing comments on porn forum.”

“These falsely attributed statements include several lewd, sex-obsessed, racist and outrageous statements” allegedly made by Robinson on website called NudeAfrica, he said.

Robinson also said the CNN article falsely claims he made an account on AdultFriendFinder.com.

Robinson describes CNN as a “politically left-wing media outlet, whose reporting is often indistinguishable from Democrat party talking points and opposes politically conservative candidates for office.”

Robinson said his personal information was compromised by a data breach and anyone could have used that information to create accounts on the cited websites and others while hiding their respective names and identities.

Robinson said he sent a notice demanding a retraction to CNN on Oct. 1 and another notice requesting the source information on Oct. 3 for forensic analysis.

Robinson said CNN on Oct. 4 refused to retract the story or provide the source material.

“CNN had every reason to doubt the veracity of the data upon which it relied,” Robinson said.

The NudeAfrica website has deleted the section in which the posts allegedly were made, and all its posts, and CNN did not verify the information, Robinson said.

CNN also relied on “unverifiable, dark web-sourced data breach files” and “recklessly disregarded the fact” that his personal information, including email and passwords, had been stolen,” he said.

Robinson seeks compensatory and punitive damages of no less than $50 million from CNN and Money.

Several of Robinson’s top aides have resigned after CNN published the story.