"Iceman" hacker pleads guilty, faces 60 years
A hacker who went by the alias “Iceman” pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Pittsburgh to charges of wire fraud and now faces up to 60 years in prison.Max Butler, also known as Max Vision, 36, of San Francisco, admitted Monday that he stole nearly two million credit card numbers from banks and other hackers, and then sold the stolen data in an online forum he operated dubbed “Cardersmarket.”
“I actually did the actions that are relevant in the indictment, and I am guilty,” Butler said during the trial, according to Wired.
Butler – who also used the aliases Aphex, Digits and Darkest – was charged in 2007 with five counts of wire fraud and transferring stolen identity information. According to the complaint against Butler, he used wireless hijacking tactics while in various hotel rooms to break into the databases of financial institutions and credit card processing centers.
In 2007, he was arrested and charged after he sold more than 100 credit card records to an informant working with the U.S. Secret Service in Pittsburgh.
Luke Dembosky, the assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case, told SCMagazineUS.com on Tuesday that Butler pleaded guilty to two of the wire fraud charges, and the other charges against him will likely be dismissed when he is sentenced on Oct. 20.
