Judge: Clinton Foundation hacker won’t serve extra time

A convicted child pornographer who tried to break into the Clinton Foundation’s computer system won’t serve any extra time for the hacking, a federal judge in Manhattan ruled on Monday.

U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams sentenced Timothy Sedlak, 44, to 18 months in prison for computer attacks on the Clinton Foundation and other institutions, but said it would be concurrent with a 42-year sentence imposed in Florida last year for producing images of himself abusing a 3-year-old.

Although Sedlak didn’t successfully infiltrate the Clinton Foundation, prosecutors said he used a battery of computers in his apartment in 2015 to launch 195,000 online attempts at defeating password protections, disrupting the network there while launching similar attacks on 23 other entities.

They said Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton were among the victims of the attempted intrusion. Sedlak has claimed he was a private detective researching whether money from charitable groups was being seized by jihadist groups and hoped to sell the information.

Sedlak, choking back tears, apologized on Monday for making email users feel violated. “I’m sorry for what I did,” he told Abrams. “I would not want anyone to do it to me. I know it was wrong.”

Abrams said she wanted to send a message that anti-hacking laws were “critical to protecting our society,” but was making the sentence concurrent in recognition of how old Sedlak will be when he completes his other sentence.