Litigation attorneys and counsel for cryptocurrency entrepreneur Michael Terpin,  Pierce O'Donnell and Paul Blechner, as well as Cybersecurity chair Tim Toohey, shared their insights regarding a civil suit in which Ellis Pinsky allegedly hacked Terpin's phone and took $24 million in cryptocurrency. Terpin has since filed a lawsuit against AT&T charging that the phone provider “did not offer proper supervision … and allowed a $9 [an hour] contractor to manually override the system that should have been protecting my information.” Pinsky will be testifying under oath during the trial.

Excerpts:

“Ellis agreed to supply us with truthful information about what happened,” Paul Blechner [...] told The Post. “He is going to give us full details under oath about how this occurred and how it went down.”

“Pinsky’s then-lawyer told him to give us $2 million,” said Pierce O’Donnell, lead attorney for Terpin. “His lawyer told us that Pinsky gave us all he had. That kept the FBI off of  Pinsky’s back. I believe he negotiated a favorable deal to avoid prosecution.”

“If AT&T pays at least the balance due [$22 million], then Pinsky is off the hook for the money,” said O’Donnell. “You can’t collect twice for the same obligation.”

Terpin's attorney, Tim Toohey, said that he hopes that with that detailed information AT&T will take responsibility for security failures that led to the breach.

Resources

• New York Post