{"id":240581,"date":"2026-07-10T07:18:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T12:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/07\/ransomware-negotiator-gets-70-months-in-prison-for-aiding-blackcat-attacks"},"modified":"2026-07-10T07:18:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T12:18:05","slug":"ransomware-negotiator-gets-70-months-in-prison-for-aiding-blackcat-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/07\/ransomware-negotiator-gets-70-months-in-prison-for-aiding-blackcat-attacks","title":{"rendered":"Ransomware Negotiator Gets 70 Months in Prison for Aiding BlackCat Attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/ransomware-negotiator-gets-70-months-in-prison-for-aiding-blackcat-attacks.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A 41-year-old former ransomware negotiator has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/florida-ransomware-negotiator-who-extorted-and-attacked-multiple-us-victims-sentenced-prison\" target=\"_blank\">sentenced<\/a> to nearly six years (i.e., 70 months) in prison in the U.S. for their role in <a href=\"https:\/\/thehackernews.com\/2026\/03\/us-sentences-russian-hacker-to-675.html#u-s-charges-third-ransomware-negotiator-linked-to-blackcat-attacks\" target=\"_blank\">conspiring<\/a> with the now-defunct <a href=\"https:\/\/thehackernews.com\/2024\/03\/exit-scam-blackcat-ransomware-group.html\" target=\"_blank\">BlackCat<\/a> ransomware operators to extort multiple victims and working with two other cybersecurity professionals to target additional victims in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>In a sentencing memorandum, federal prosecutors described Martino as a \u201cdouble agent working to maximize the harm to his clients and the financial gain to cybercriminals who paid him a part of the ransom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Angelo Martino, 41, of Land O\u2019Lakes, Florida, <a href=\"https:\/\/thehackernews.com\/2026\/04\/ransomware-negotiator-pleads-guilty-to.html\" target=\"_blank\">pleaded guilty<\/a> to one-count information charging him with conspiring to interfere with interstate commerce through extortion back in April. The defendant worked as a negotiator on behalf of five different ransomware victims, while providing BlackCat attackers with confidential information regarding their negotiating position and strategy without their knowledge or permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A 41-year-old former ransomware negotiator has been sentenced to nearly six years (i.e., 70 months) in prison in the U.S. for their role in conspiring with the now-defunct BlackCat ransomware operators to extort multiple victims and working with two other cybersecurity professionals to target additional victims in 2023. In a sentencing memorandum, federal prosecutors described [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,45,1493],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-240581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cybercrime-malcode","category-finance","category-law-enforcement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240581\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}