“As alleged in the complaint, Mr. Kurson launched a campaign of cybercrime, manipulation, and abuse from his perch at the New York Observer, and now the people of New York will hold him accountable. We encourage all survivors and witnesses of this type of cybercrime and intimate partner abuse to report these crimes to our Office.”
The Manhattan DA’s Office’s investigation began in May 2020, when the Office’s Cybercrime and Identity Theft Bureau was examining complaints made to the NYPD during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City.
“The individuals who are charged with acts of shooting in the Bronx and possession of weapons in Manhattan were the locus of a fairly sophisticated cyber scam and long running identity theft,” said Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr.
District Attorney Vance said, “We’ve made it our mission to modernize and reposition the Manhattan D.A.’s Office to confront contemporary threats to New Yorkers, and this case shows how the investments we’ve made to become a global leader in cyber are having a real-world impact on the safety of our communities.”
The NYPD, a nonprofit called the New York City Cyber Command and Global Cyber Alliance, the Manhattan DA’s office and private businesses have just launched the nation’s first local cybersecurity operations center, where the public and private sectors work together to identify and combat threats.
