The United States Supreme Court has refused to hear the case of Paul Hansmeier, one of the attorneys behind the Prenda law firm, who is serving a 14-year prison sentence for his involvement in a hacking scheme. Meanwhile, court records show that Hansmeier's former colleague John Steele is already making plans for his release.
In 2019, a U.S. District Court in Minnesota sentenced Paul Hansmeier to 14 years in prison, followed by two years of supervised release.
Hansmeier was a key player at the Prenda law firm, which started cases against individuals suspected of downloading pirated pornographic videos via BitTorrent.
Hansmeier and his fellow attorney John Steele went one step further. Among other things, they lied to the courts, committed identity theft and hatched a plan to upload your own torrents to The Pirate Bay, creating a honeypot for the people they later sued for hacked downloads.
The appeal fails
Both attorneys pleaded guilty, but Hansmeier reserved the right to appeal his failed motion to dismiss. The former lawyer hoped for a better result. However, earlier this year, the United States Court of Appeals upheld the ruling, including the $ 1.5 million in restitution for victims of the honeypot hacking scheme.
However, this setback was not the end of the road. Hansmeier continued to reject and file various lawsuits, listing several federal defendants, including United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota, Anders Folk, among others.
With these cases, Hansmeier tries to legitimize the honeypot scheme, which actually rebooted from prison to make your point. In addition, he asked the United States Supreme Court to hear his appeal.
Supreme Court
Hansmeier filed a petition with the Supreme Court in July. According to the filing, there is a division among the lower courts on an important "materiality" issue that is central to your conviction for mail and wire fraud.
While Prenda's former attorney does not deny that he caught copyright infringers and did not disclose crucial information to the courts, the petition questions whether this can qualify as an actionable scheme to defraud.
This week, the Supreme Court decided not to take the case. Hansmeier's request was denied without further comment, effectively closing this appeal option.
Denial is another setback for Hansmeier, who continues to reject. In civil cases, he accuses authorities of actively obstructing his legal efforts to challenge the criminal statutes of mail fraud, wire fraud and extortion.
In several filings, written from prison, the former prosecutor accuses the federal defendants of retaliating by putting him in administrative detention.
Apparently, Hansmeier was thrown into the "hole" shortly after he attacked several federal defendants in a series of lawsuits a few months ago. These restrictions prevent him from adequately serving all defendants.
โWithin a week, Bureau of Prisons officials placed Hansmeier in administrative detention, also known as the 'Hole,' while BOP officials 'investigated' the aforementioned cases. Hansmeier has been in administrative detention for 96 days and counting, while this 'investigation' continues, โHansmeier informed the court two weeks ago.
โAs a result of the previous unlawful retaliation, Hansmeier has been unable to continue his service efforts. As an administrative detainee, Hansmeier has access to food, water, a notepad, a 4-inch pen and little else. "
Hansmeier asks for more time to notify all the accused. At the time of writing this report, the court has not yet responded to this request. However, it is clear that the convicted lawyer does not give up easily.
Steele prepares for launch
This is in stark contrast to the way Hansmeier's former colleague John Steele approached the matter. Steele cooperated with authorities from the beginning and received a reduced prison term of five years.
According to recent court records, Steele is already planning his release, which is less than three years away. Your request for supervised release in Arizona, where you will first be transferred to a rehab facility when the time comes, was granted last month.
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