Accused Capital One Hacker Is Denied Bail Over Past Threats

(Bloomberg) -- The woman accused of hacking into Capital One Financial Corp.’s cloud and stealing personal information on more than 100 million people was denied bail after prosecutors portrayed her as a loose cannon with violent tendencies.

Paige A. Thompson, 33, who has been jailed since her arrest in July, is a danger to herself and others and must stay locked up while the case proceeds, U.S. Magistrate Judge Michelle L. Peterson ruled after a bail hearing Friday. Thompson also lacks strong ties to the Seattle area, Peterson said.

“I do have severe concerns that if you are released you will not appear at your next court hearing,” the judge said to Thompson.

Prosecutors argued in a court filing before the hearing that Thompson has a long history of dangerous behavior that includes threats to kill others and to commit “suicide by cop.” They also claim there’s a risk she could carry out additional hacks.

Plea for Release

Mohammad Hamoudi, Thompson’s court-appointed lawyer, urged the judge to release the accused hacker to a halfway house, with GPS monitoring, in court filings.

On Friday he said at the hearing that Thompson wasn’t a risk to the community, and that her previous threats of suicide were not sufficient to detain her.

“We do not detain individuals with no criminal history, not even a speeding ticket, charged with not a violent offense, simply because they have mental health issues,” he said.

Tim Carstens, a longtime acquaintance of Thompson’s who wrote a letter in support of her release on bail, said Capital One was lucky that the flaw in the company’s computer systems was discovered by someone who had no intention of exploiting it. He said he was surprised when he heard Thompson had been arrested, describing computers as a passionate hobby of hers.

“They’re lucky it wasn’t someone who tried to sell the material,” he said. How many people, he asked, would grab that kind of data “without a plan for the day after?”

Thompson, a transgender woman, is being held in a male unit of a prison near Seattle–Tacoma International Airport. Her lawyers had argued that increases the risk she’ll be assaulted, and jeopardizes her health.

Peterson empathized, saying she wished she had the authority to order Thompson’s relocation to the female wing of the facility.

“But the court doesn’t have that power,” she said.

The case is U.S. v. Thompson, 2:19-mj-00344, U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington (Seattle).

To contact the reporters on this story: Matt Day in Seattle at mday63@bloomberg.net;Erik Larson in Los Angeles at elarson4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Joe Schneider, Peter Jeffrey

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