Revenge porn king Hunter Moore arrested by FBI along with alleged hacker partner Charles Evens

The internet is just a little less douchey thanks to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who arrested the King of Revenge Porn Hunter Moore (photo above) this morning in California. Also arrested was Moore’s associate Charles Evans, who was allegedly paid by Moore to hack into people’s computers and email accounts for nude photos.

In case you missed it, Hunter Moore built an internet empire on “revenge porn,” which is essentially publishing nude photos of people without their consent. Moore originally solicited photos from jilted lovers and anyone else willing to send in pictures for his website IsAnyoneUp.com and later for HunterMoore.TV. (On the latter site Moore would often publish the addresses of the people in the photos as well.)

But, it seems his stream of filth was running little dry, because according to the FBI press release (included below), in order “to obtain more photos to populate the site, Moore allegedly instructed Evens to gain unauthorized access to — in other words, to hack into — victims’ e-mail accounts. Moore sent payments to Evens in exchange for nude photos obtained unlawfully from the victims’ accounts. Moore then posted the illegally obtained photos on his website without the victims’ consent. The indictment alleges that Evens hacked into e-mail accounts belonging to hundreds of victims.”

Moore and Evens both face one count of conspiracy, seven counts of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information, and seven counts of aggravated identity theft. According to the press release, “Both men are expected to make initial court appearances this afternoon — Moore in federal court in Sacramento and Evens in United States District Court in Los Angeles.

It should be interesting to see how Moore, who is infamous for thumbing his nose at legal proceedings, reacts to the arrest publicly once he is released. (You might recall that during his lawsuit with Storage Wars star Brandi Passante Moore sent Brandi’s attorney a photo of his penis along with the message, “Hi Linda, my lawyer wanted me to know if brandi missed this? please get back to me as soon as possible.” Brandi later won that lawsuit, but was only awarded $750 plus her legal fees — the latter of which were likely quite substantial.)

Attorney Reza Sina was Moore’s lawyer for close to a year, but stopped representing him last year. Sina talked with Time about the federal indictment and said of Moore, ““In May of 2013 I was in Washington DC and he called me and told me he was being questioned by the FBI and it’s at that time I decided to cease all communications with him.”

Well played Mr. attorney man!

Here is the full F.B.I. press release announcing the arrest of Hunter Moore and Charles Evens followed by the full embedded indictment:

Two California Men Arrested in E-Mail Hacking Scheme That Yielded Nude Photos That were Posted on ‘Revenge Porn’ Website
U.S. Attorney’s Office
January 23, 2014

LOS ANGELES—The FBI arrested two men this morning for allegedly conspiring to hack into victims’ e-mail accounts to steal nude photos that were later posted on the “revenge porn” website isanyoneup.com.

Hunter Moore, 27, of Woodland, who operated isanyoneup.com, and Charles Evens, 25, of Studio City, were arrested without incident by special agents with the FBI. Both men are expected to make initial court appearances this afternoon—Moore in federal court in Sacramento and Evens in United States District Court in Los Angeles.

Moore and Evens are charged in a 15-count indictment unsealed after they were arrested this morning. The indictment charges both men with conspiracy, seven counts of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information, and seven counts of aggravated identity theft.

According to the indictment, Moore operated the website isanyoneup.com, where he posted, among other things, nude or sexually explicit photos of victims. The pictures were submitted without the victim’s permission for purposes of revenge. However, to obtain more photos to populate the site, Moore allegedly instructed Evens to gain unauthorized access to—in other words, to hack into—victims’ e-mail accounts. Moore sent payments to Evens in exchange for nude photos obtained unlawfully from the victims’ accounts. Moore then posted the illegally obtained photos on his website without the victims’ consent. The indictment alleges that Evens hacked into e-mail accounts belonging to hundreds of victims.

An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.

If convicted, Moore and Evens face up to five years in federal prison for each of the conspiracy and computer hacking counts. The charge of aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory two-year sentence to run consecutive to any other sentence imposed in the case.

The investigation that led to this morning’s arrests of Moore and Evens was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.