Major credit card hacker sentenced
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Max Ray Vision, one of the most prolific computer hackers in U.S. history, was sentenced Friday to 13 years in prison for stealing nearly 2 million credit card numbers in a wire fraud case that cost banks an estimated $86 million.
Senior U.S. District Judge Maurice Cohill Jr. also ordered him to pay $27.5 million in restitution.
Formerly known as Max Ray Butler, Mr. Vision, 37, of San Francisco, pleaded guilty here last summer and admitted that he used encryption programs to disguise hacking into financial institutions and data centers from California.
Known online as "Iceman," "Digits" and other nicknames, Mr. Vision has been in federal custody since 2007, when the U.S. Secret Service raided his apartment.
In a letter to Judge Cohill, he said more jail time wouldn't serve any purpose and asked that he be allowed to go free so he could use his expertise to help people.
He also apologized for his conduct. "I have a lot of regrets," he wrote, "but I think my essential failing was that I lost touch with the accountability and responsibility that comes with being a member of society."
He had faced up to 30 years in prison, but prosecutors asked for a lighter sentence because he has cooperated with federal agents.
Mr. Vision was prosecuted in Pittsburgh because two informants here worked with the Secret Service to infiltrate his operation.
Prosecutors said Mr. Vision and a partner, Christopher Aragon, established CardersMarket, an online forum devoted to stealing credit card accounts and identity information.
Mr. Vision provided many card numbers to Mr. Aragon to be encoded onto plastic cards and used to buy merchandise. He sold other cards directly online. Mr. Aragon is being prosecuted in California.
The Secret Service searched Mr. Vision's apartment in September 2007 and found 1.8 million stolen credit card accounts on his computer. The cards had been used to ring up $86.4 million in fraudulent purchases.
Mr. Vision's attorney argued that the government's loss figures were inflated because some of the credit card numbers he had collected came from other hackers and he might not have known he had them.
First Published February 13, 2010 12:00 am
