September 4, 2009

• News:  Attorney Says Hacker Not Leader of the Pack

  The attorney for Albert Gonzalez, the 28 year old defendant in one of the nation's largest credit card theft cases, paints a much different picture of his client than that of court documents. During a telephone interview with Reuters, Rene Palomino, attorney for Gonzalez, stated that Gonzalez was not a ringleader of anything. Last month in Boston, Gonzalez accepted a plea bargain while pleading guilty to a massive scheme involving the theft of over 40 million credit card numbers by hacking into the data source of major retailers including TJ Maxx and BJ's Wholesale Clubs. Gonzalez also faces charges filed in New Jersey on a separate incident which involves the theft of an additional 130 million debit and credit card numbers. Gonzalez has not yet entered a plea in the New Jersey case.

  In 2003, Gonzalez became an informant for the Secret Service to avoid prosecution of his illegal actions in computer hacking; however, it appears he continued to work both sides of the law as he continued to be associated with his credit card cyber criminal buddies. Despite his associations, Palomino maintains that Gonzalez was only one of eleven co-conspirators in the credit card theft scheme; and, he said that his client had knowledge, but was not as important as many have built him up to be. Palomino considers himself to be more than just Gonzalez's attorney; he feels more like a family friend. He met Gonzalez through their church in Miami as he ministered the youth group; Gonzalez was only 8 years old at the time. Palomino said Gonzalez’s father was a Cuban immigrant in the 1970's and is a hard working individual.

  Like most attorneys, Palomino is hoping for the best for Gonzalez. However, it could be argued that the best for him is to spend the next 25 plus years in prison to avoid feeding his hacker addition any further. It is not likely that the credit card industry or Gonzalez's nearly 200 million victims would agree with Palomino. It will take a whole lot of grooming to clean this thief's act up.
  
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