Breaking.... Hacker Group Claims To Have Romney's Tax Returns

[trailmonkee]

Source: Current

http://mashable.com/2012/09/05/hacker-ransom-romney-tax-returns/
Mitt Romney’s tax returns are reportedly in the hands of a team of hackers who plan on releasing them publicly at the end of the month unless a ransom is paid.

The group allegedly obtained the files from PricewaterhouseCooper’s Tennessee office on Aug. 25, in what was described on PasteBin as a Mission Impossible-like caper:

Romney’s 1040 tax returns were taken from the PWC office 8/25/2012 by gaining access to the third floor via a gentleman working on the 3rd floor of the building. Once on the 3rd floor, the team moved down the stairs to the 2nd floor and setup shop in an empty office room. During the night, suite 260 was entered, and all available 1040 tax forms for Romney were copied. A package was sent to the PWC on suite 260 with a flash drive containing a copy of the 1040 files, plus copies were sent to the Democratic office in the county and copies were sent to the GOP office in the county at the beginning of the week also containing flash drives with copies of Romney’s tax returns before 2010. A scanned signature image for Mitt Romney from the 1040 forms were scanned and included with the packages, taken from earlier 1040 tax forms gathered and stored on the flash drives.

The files are to be released to the public on Sept. 28, according to the PasteBin document.

Read more: http://current.com/community/93893137_breaking-hacker-group-claims-to-have-romneys-tax-returns.htm

---

I saw this a short while ago... wanted to wait for it to show up on another site first... it's now on Current Tv's site... looking for others...

obviously, this is not cool the way they got the info, if the story proves legit... but, this will at least keep the issue alive as a topic of discussion in the MSM...

[hlthe2b]

1. Oh, boy... If this is true....

Shit's gonna hit the fan--in more ways than one.

[DonViejo]

76. Apparently it's NOT true

In the past few days, two messages posted to the hacker-favored website Pastebin claimed that the authors had illegally obtained tax returns, including those of Republican candidate Mitt Romney and his wife Ann, from professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. Late Wednesday, PricewaterhouseCoopers provided the following statement to TPM indicating that it currently had no evidence of any such intrusion. As PwC said in its statement:

We are aware of the allegations that have been made regarding improper access to our systems. We are working closely with the United States Secret Service, and at this time there is no evidence that our systems have been compromised or that there was any unauthorized access to the data in question.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/pricewaterhousecoopers-says-no-evidence-of-romney-tax-return

[toddwv]

77. Meh... this stinks of a hoax.

I wouldn't get your hopes up.

[robinlynne]

113. +1

[Kablooie]

103. If it were true they would probably say it wasn't to discourage more attacks.

And they probably want to keep the news as uninteresting as possible.

So perhaps it isn't true but just because PricewaterhouseCoopers says it's not doesn't necessarily mean it isn't.

[WCGreen]

2. yea, well, I don't condone illegal breaking and entering

for any reason.

Having said that, it's Romney's fault for not releasing the stuff in the first place.

[jtuck004]

24. No honor among thieves. <G> n/t

[Dustin DeWinde]

79. Romney's shadiness makes him susceptible to blackmail

If these
petty criminals are blackmailing Romney now, imagine what the Chinese and Russians would do if Romney ever became president.

Romney is clearly unfit for high office

[WCGreen]

84. Excellent point.

[nolabear]

3. God, what a horrible thing. The Democrats should do all they can not to let this happen.

I don't know that they can do anything but it's a precedent we don't want set, a line not to be crossed. I don't care how much we want information, there are ways to get it and ways not to get it, and this is egregious.

[Duer 157099]

8. A precedent? Have you not heard of Watergate?

I think that ship has sailed, a few decades ago in fact.

[WhoIsNumberNone]

67. Yes that ship sailed- for the Republicans.

We know they're crooks. I don't want to see our side sink to their level.

[SkyDaddy7]

74. I agree 100%!!!!!!!!!!

This is wrong no matter how you look at it! Plus, this could blow back on the Democrats...I don't know how but I could see it happening. Who knows who this group is or their political ties? This is not good 7 I agree with the poster who said the Democrats need to be out in front on this & make sure if they are released it is not a Democrat that does it...Which could be very hard.

Plus, what if they say basically the same thing that Romney said they would say? I doubt that big time but if they do plus they were stolen would not be good at all!!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

27. Agree 100%

Bad idea. Really, really bad. There should be no reward for this activity.

[closeupready]

33. What they are demanding is extortion, and very illegal.

Separate to that, however, is that if they DID release the files to third parties, then that kind of undercuts their leverage, making me think they never wanted to extort anything in the first place.

Weird story. Probably not true, either.

[pnwmom]

55. Exactly. If they sent a copy to the Dems already, what is their point? n/t

[Blue State Bandit]

61. probably an encrypted file...

with the keycode to be released by 9/28.

[closeupready]

72. Ah, right, didn't think of that.

Didn't Assange send encrypted files around, or s.th. like that? Anyway, interesting to see what happens.

[emilyg]

32. This would stink for a

long time.

[former9thward]

37. It is not horrible because it is an obvious hoax.

How people can be so gullible is beyond me.

[Javaman]

52. +1 nt

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

47. Hopefully, none of these guys is even remotely involved in the Democratic party

Otherwise you will hear screaming from assholes like Daryl Issa for investigations, impeachment, and never ending conspiracy theories.

[alp227]

71. From reading these responses so far it sounds like an early October Surprise.

[snooper2]

81. No, horrible is running out of concrete when you just have one more post to set..

This really isn't that bad.. unless, well, what is in YOUR taxes LOL

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. Your move, Mitt...........

n/t

[hollysmom]

5. sounds more like crooks than democrats

No support for this kind of behavior. Who is supposed to pay the ransom anyway, not us.

[leftynyc]

6. Hmmm, this sounds familiar

I remember a story about Rove and his clan of criminals claiming a Democrat broke into the office of a pub - it later came out that they did it themselves. This sounds the same.

[trailmonkee]

11. sneaky

[spinbaby]

16. It does sound familiar

I smell a false-flag operation.

[Judi Lynn]

36. Also the fact he bugged his office, hoping to pin it on Democrats.

That event was noted here by DU'er KansDem:

1986 William Clements, Jr. gubernatorial campaign

In 1986, Rove helped Clements become governor a second time. In a strategy memo Rove wrote for his client prior to the race, now among Clements's papers in the Texas A&M University library, Rove quoted Napoleon: "The whole art of war consists in a well-reasoned and extremely circumspect defensive, followed by rapid and audacious attack."

In 1986, just before a crucial debate in campaign, Rove claimed that his office had been bugged by Democrats. The police and FBI investigated and discovered that the bug's battery was so small that it needed to be changed every few hours, and the investigation was dropped. Critics, including other Republican operatives, suspected Rove had bugged his own office to garner sympathy votes in the close governor's race.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Rove
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=110479

[newspeak]

114. BINGO!!! it sounds like one of rove's sleazy acts

and, with someone (wink, wink) taking those forms and now it's on national media; it will be all about the bribe and not about mittens releasing more of the returns. I tell ya, rove learned from the best-on his deathbed I heard atwater apologized for the dirty, lying, character destroying tricks he did. to me, it's a little late when you destroy a person's character, you have murdered him. rove was atwater's protege.

to me, the whole scenario is very suspicious.

[tridim]

38. My first thought too. nt

[eggplant]

7. There is no upside to this.

Our side can't condone this sort of thing. It should remain his choice to release them and face the consequences, or to not release them, and continue to face the consequences.

We don't need them, we don't want them, we don't want to be associated with people who attempt to extort a political candidate for personal gain.

Sheesh.

[Liberalynn]

13. Exactly and you know the Pukes will blame the Dems

regardless

[Scuba]

31. +1

[MjolnirTime]

9. Absolutely Beautiful!

[Contrary1]

20. Bet it took you a while to think of that unique comeback.

[Lochloosa]

28. Wow. Take the time to register and that's the best they would do?

[Strat0]

12. Dem Office.

Don't open the package...carefully document its chain of custody...and send it to the RNC. This reeks of a Rovian false flag operation.

[kestrel91316]

45. Nope. Send it straight to the FBI. Extortion is a serious crime.

[cosmicone]

14. This has Karl Rove's stamp all over it

The timing to distract from a successful DNC convention while making democrats appear to be nixonian crooks is very uncanny.

We should not touch this with a 100 foot pole and Obama and all top democrats need to condemn this behavior immediately in the strongest possible terms.

[Liberalynn]

17. +1

[Ratty]

21. Yes. Didn't he pull almost this exact same thing in texas the night before GWB was elected governor?

[quakerboy]

15. That's not hacking.

When you gain entry to a physical location and physically take things, hacking is not an applicable term, I think

[Hassin Bin Sober]

19. It's called Plumbing.

[trailmonkee]

25. Photo of said Hacker....

[NickB79]

89. Cracking? nt

[Berlum]

18. Willard the tax dodger

You knew this was coming...

[Baitball Blogger]

22. Interesting.

Why do they have to wait so long to publish the information?

[geologic]

23. Another entitlement Romney wants to cut...

...if he won't release his tax returns legally--
just what are the people supposed to do???

[Lone_Star_Dem]

26. Stinky! Reeks of GOP lies and a distraction.

Stealing is not hacking. "All available" smells like "nothing harmful" to my ears.

Then they'll use the theft and the lack of damming evidence against the Dems.

Typical Republican tricks.

[sabrina 1]

29. What is their motive? Asking for a ransom? IF there is any truth to this, these are criminals

and would do the same thing to anyone, for money. Or they are operatives attempting to attach a crime to Democrats and gain sympathy for Romney

This isn't about revealing info the public has a right to know, it is a crime involving extortion and I hope no one in the Dem Party falls for it.

As someone above said, it is the kind of stupid thing Rove would do, to spread rumors like this, even if Dems did not bite.

[DeSwiss]

73. They had me until I saw.....

...where they wanted to be paid in these ----->

- Wanting the ransom in bitcoins makes it sound more like a Paulian/Libertarian caper........

[al bupp]

78. Austensibly, the idea would be that BCs are untraceable

Certainly, one couldn't use a Paypal account for such things.

[drm604]

99. Apparently there is a cash market in BitCoins.

Supposedly they're used for all kinds of illegal things.

[Kablooie]

105. There is also an exchange rate market. You can make money with just the exchange rate differences.

[MADem]

110. Didn't THE GOOD WIFE do a show on that?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2148561/

[closeupready]

30. Free Taxie!!!

(With apologies to Willy...)

[KurtNYC]

34. TOTAL BULLSHIT

This is like Dan Rather's TANG documents. It's a set-up, false flag op.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

41. It may not even be that...

What's the source of this information? I can't trace it back to anything even remotely reputable, much less anything that would appear to be confirmation by either the Deomcratic or Republican Party.

I think it's a big steaming pile.

[KurtNYC]

44. True. I have been waiting for someone to step forward and claim to have Romney's returns

This is the first one I have seen and a pretty weak fraud.

Mitt's incomplete 2010 returns were prepared in Boston by PWC partner Daniel Feheley because they were claiming that Mitt lived in his son's basement during 2010. Mitt has never claimed to live in Tennessee.

Mission Implausible.

[Kelvin Mace]

65. Ah, but to some people

claiming it was stolen from an office where Romney never lived fuels their desire to believe. They will tell you this means it is genuine.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

75. The location isn't all that surprising

I live in Wisconsin and my mortgage was owned by a company headquartered in Ohio. When I was refinancing, they told me the original records were in a warehouse in Kentucky. So go figure.

[KurtNYC]

82. Romney's returns were prepared by a Partner in the US-largest accounting firm

who is based in Boston. The records for his clients will be in Boston.

The chance of multiple offices and multiple people having access to and working on Romney's returns are very very slim. The chance of this story about going into a secure 8-story building with 24 hour security and cameras and electronic access cards, spending hours there on a Saturday, finding Romney's returns there, copying the paper returns and also finding or creating an electronic version, and leaving the building then naming your co-conspirator as someone who works on the 3rd floor being true are about equal to the chances of finding a extra copy of Romney's returns laying around at the Kinko's in Anchorage.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

83. I'm just saying...

That copies of the return being stored in an out-of-state building is not far-fetched, and it may be that different people, with differing areas of expertise, were involved in completing Romneys return. I would seriously doubt that one person did the return all alone.

But you're right. For someone to know the exact location of Romney's return and then have the wherwithal to retreive it is not plausible in the least.

[Kelvin Mace]

63. Or it is just a bored troll

Either way...

[darkangel218]

35. What if the repukes scened all this, and FAKED UP mitts taxes?

That way ppl will see what they think are the real taxes, while mittens will laugh his way to the banks again

Hope I'm wrong.

[Amonester]

59. The problem with that scenario is the IRS.

Folks working there can easily declare FAKED UP taxies as being just that: FAKED.

[darkangel218]

64. They could, but they wont

IRS would never get involved in this, especially making public statements? Nope, it won't happen.

[iamthebandfanman]

39. thieves versus liars..

let the battle for morality begin!

[BelieveMe3]

40. been saying it for weeks

I thought Romney was just taunting someone to do just this. Might not be true...but wouldn't surprise me.

[kimbutgar]

42. This has Karl Rove's fingerprints all over it. I hope the Dem's don't fall for this trick

The whole story sounds fishy. Like someone could just walk into an office building access the computers and copy the returns. You have to have passwords and user names for this type of job. It is a setup. Meant to lure the media from the convention to the returns. Ignore until next week and screw over the snake Rove.

[They_Live]

48. Yes.

An obvious trap. And poorly thought out. If the plan were fully deployed, there would be too many loose ends and then some one would have a plane crash or shoot themselves in the back multiple times. Dumb. Let Rmoney release them (or not), the IRS could confirm validity.

[ThoughtCriminal]

102. +1

Except, this is almost too sloppy. Rove wannabe operation.

[GardeningGal]

43. This highlights why it's important for Romney to release his taxes.

He's open for blackmail if he doesn't. And it doesn't really matter if the story is true or not, it points out the vulnerability.

[Sunlei]

46. a ransom? LOL, this is a hoax unless the reported 'team' is under arrest today.

No crime of this scale would be reported on the political tabloid media first.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

49. Sounds bogus. Ransom deadline but 'copies sent to the Democrats' already?

[Tx4obama]

50. Here's another link

CP: Hackers Say They Nabbed Romney's Tax Records Through Franklin Office, Plan to Release
http://www.nashvillescene.com/pitw/archives/2012/09/05/cp-hackers-say-they-nabbed-romneys-tax-records-through-franklin-office-plan-to-release

[pnwmom]

51. Here's another article, FWIW. I'm as skeptical as everyone else.

If Dems had anything to do with this, they wouldn't be doing this now, right in the middle of their own convention.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120905/WILLIAMSON/309050153/Romney-tax-return-claim-made-in-package-left-at-Williamson-GOP-office

[pnwmom]

53. And why would a serious extortionist give them several weeks to reply?

And how could they say they'd destroy the data, if they'd given a copy to the Dems, too?

[Kablooie]

107. They wouldn't have to hand over the numbers. Just enough to show they have the real thing.

And the several weeks is in the hope there will be a bidding war for the returns.

[HDavis]

54. Romney tax returns,

Sounds like a Carl Rove trick to me.

[pnwmom]

56. Maybe they're just trying to distract from a great convention. We shouldn't let them. n/t

[truthisfreedom]

58. KKKarl.

[Ilsa]

57. Ransom? That blows the whole deal.

Nothing can be trusted here.

[Kelvin Mace]

60. Do not see a reliable source for this

I wouldn't get excited until then.

Also, the term for what these people are doing (if true) is blackmail. The whole thing smells fishy.

A little healthy skepticism from the Reality-Based Community, if you please.

[Javaman]

62. this sounds like complete BS.

no one else is reporting this other than small time outfits who haven't figured out it's BS yet.

[WhoIsNumberNone]

66. These guys are idiots if they're asking for a ransom

Starting with a Watergate-like break in is dodgey to begin with, but then they up the ante to extortion? I don't see anything good coming from this. Best case scenario is it's a hoax. If it's real I predict everyone involved will be tracked down and locked up before Sepember 28th.

[Kablooie]

109. Asking for bitcoin may not be as idiotic as you think.

Bitcoin is totally anonymous.
The buyer and seller have no way to identify each other.

It's a very complex and arcane system of currency exchange but is absolutely anonymous.

[slackmaster]

68. Fucking amateurs

[Comrade_McKenzie]

69. More power to them, but I'd rather they just release them for the public good. nt

[skip fox]

70. IF (big if) it's not a hoax, it might be a no win for Democrats (being associated with illegality) B

it's a big LOSE-LOSE for Romney. He is either seen top capitulate to blackmail and pay the money or we have his returns. He loses either way.

I'm ignoring issues of morality here not because they aren't important, but only because I want to take at the possible consequences from an amoral perspective. (I, too, think it stinks morally if it is true.)

[MrBiker]

80. WAKE UP!!! aka: I hope this story is true!

You want to see how weak Democrats are? Read the comments below this story, the comments above this one. You'll see...

"I hope it's not true.." "I can't condone this type of action..." "Stealing is stealing and I don't want anything to do with it..." "I hope it's a false-flag operation..." "We're not that kind of people..." "That's no way to win an election..." etc.

WHAT A BUNCH OF SPINELESS PANSIES you commenters are - just like the Dems in congress. And Obama for this first 3.5 years.

Do you think the Repugnicans would be saying this stuff if they got secret Dem documents? NO WAY. We'd hear comments like:

"I wish I was in on that..." "I hope they get those docs to Fox News ASAP..." "I'll email thousands of FB friends those docs..." "We'll nail the Dems to the cross with this info..." etc.

The Repugs want A FRIGGIN' WAR because they're better funded, have more weapons and stronger soldiers. And the electorate are the soldiers I'm referring to.

Rove, the Koch bros., Cheney, Romney and every other high-powered Repug would do, has done, and wants to do something like this and much, much worse. And they'd do it at the drop of a hat. They're trying to suppress the vote of millions of Dems (via "voter ID" laws) in order to win, they bought the SCOTUS in 2000 (by buying the elected officials to put them in place) to stop the vote count, they've bought the voting machines across America (most notably in Ohio in 2004), they make robo-calls to Dems telling them voting day is Wednesday, and every other dirty trick in the book. I'm just giving you the egregious stuff I can think of off the top of my head.

After four years, I didn't hear a single Dem mention the party of "no." BO hasn't said a word about how he's been stymied by a party intent on getting him out of office - even if it destroys America, which to some degree it has. I haven't heard a single Dem mention what devastation the Repugs have wrought by calling out their policies and their voting record. And they've done nothing about black-box voting. WHAT PANSIES!!! For these reasons, I stopped giving them money after mamby-pamby mealy-mouthed Kerry lost. His non-response to the Swift Boat and flip-flop ads cost us the election and got two neo-con SCOTUS justices installed.

I hope these break-in guys have the goods and I hope they nail Mittens to the wall with it. I'm sick of our team being walked on, taken advantage of, and beaten to a pulp by Repugs with gonads, who are up against touchey-feeley Dems who drink warm milk before they go to bed with their binky and suck their collective thumbs.

And for those of you who think this "Mission: Impossible" couldn't be done, that they'd need "passwords and credentials, etc." WHAT YEAR ARE YOU LIVING IN??? Hackers get in to computers much more secure and dramatically higher level that these.

I hope these guys got the goods, and I hope they're doing it for altruistic reasons and not blackmail.

Either way, the only way we're going to take back Congress and do something good for this country is if we grow some muscles, get in the mud and fight these guys mano-a-mano. I've been waiting for 15 years for the Dems to grow a spine, and last night, I saw Deval Patrick and a couple others show some, and this morning I'm seeing there's some people somewhere who have a very large set - if they really pulled off a caper like they're claiming.

[geologic]

85. Bitcoin shut down operations--

yesterday...

[drm604]

111. I highly doubt that.

What's your source? You may be thinking of Bitfloor, a Bitcoin exchange that had a backup server hacked and Bitcoins stolen. That is not at all the same as Bitcoin shutting down. It's like a bank shutting down versus the Fed shutting down.

I don't think it's even possible for Bitcoin to shut down. It's a distributed decentralized P2P system. There's no one point that can be "shut down".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin

[trailmonkee]

86. pc mag is running the story now...

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2409319,00.asp

[trailmonkee]

87. price waterhouse now working with secret service....

http://wpln.org/?p=40952

Says no evidence at this time...but said they have confiscated material?

[trailmonkee]

88. Bitcoin Exchange has now shutdown after another (different) attack

http://mashable.com/2012/09/05/bitcoin-bitfloor-hacked/

[Kablooie]

106. I'll bet this is from the CIA trying to prevent the blackmail from succeeding.

But bitcoin is a worldwide anonymous network so I don't know how they can really stop it.

[drm604]

112. That's just one exchange.

It's like a bank shutting down versus the Fed shutting down.

It's very unlikely that Bitcoin itself could be shutdown. It's a decentralized P2P system with no central control.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin

[sulphurdunn]

90. Were this a serious blackmail,

and the perps had the goods on someone with Mitt's ability to pay, it seems unlikely they'd ruin it by going public. Any released documents would be dismissed as forgeries. No originals would be provided to challenge the claim. The hackers would also know that they will suffer the same fate as Julian Assange and Bradley Manning, not for stealing the documents and quietly ransoming them back, but for going public.

[davidn3600]

91. A ransom? Give me a break...

Either this is a hoax or these hackers are incredibly stupid...

[BanTheGOP]

92. This is actually part of how Holder and the DOJ will indict Romney

Although the material may have been obtained illegally in this case, this will precipitate an investigation in which Romney will be indicted next month.

[Wernothelpless]

93. Popcorn? ...

This one's starting to get really good .... yummy ....

[D23MIURG23]

94. according to the link the secret service is investigating.

These idiots are going to get their asses handed to them.

http://mashable.com/2012/09/05/romney-tax-hackers-secret-service/

[davidpdx]

95. I hope to hell it isn't true

It is shit like this that could cost us the election if it is. We don't need a scandal when we are doing so well. Even if someone not directly tied to the Democrats is not implicated it could be hung around our necks.

[trailmonkee]

96. story about the package left at GOP offices....

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120905/WILLIAMSON/309050153/Romney-tax-return-claim-made-packages-left-Williamson-GOP-office?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7C%7Cp&nclick_check=1

[sendero]

97. Nobody could be..

... smart enough to get the returns and at the same time stupid enough to think they could get away with extortion.

This is bullshit, 100%

[tjwash]

98. Seems legit.

[trailmonkee]

100. yep, legit....

[trailmonkee]

101. OK, now the story is being run by AP and Bloomberg...

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-09-05/secret-service-probing-theft-of-romney-tax-records

The event might be in question (and questionable)... But at least the 'story' is legit...

[ellie]

104. Hahahahahaha!

I can't help but laugh. He has nothing to hide then he has nothing to fear, right?

[Politicub]

108. This sounds like a screwed up Rove tactic

Don't take the bait.

[Myrina]

115. A seriously good hacker wouldn't need to actually physically enter a building ...

... he/she could crack into the IRS' database from just about anywhere, snag what they need & distribute it without having to 'save to a flash drive' and 'send copies'.