Lauri Love held in Suffolk and facing possible extradition to US over claims he hacked agencies including Nasa and the Federal Reserve

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A British man accused of hacking into US government computer networks has been arrested.

Lauri Love, 30, from Stradishall in Suffolk, has been charged with hacking into various agencies, including the US army, Nasa, the Federal Reserve and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Scotland Yard said officers from the Metropolitan police’s extradition unit arrested Love at an address in Stradishall on Wednesday on an extradition warrant on behalf of the US.

The warrant alleges offences under the Computer Misuse Act for which he has been indicted in the districts of Virginia, New Jersey and New York between various dates in 2012 and 2013.

Love was first arrested by officers from the UK’s National Crime Agency under the act in October 2013 and released on bail.

The law permits the arrest of anyone who starts attacks from the UK on computers anywhere in the world.

Love’s solicitor, Karen Todner, said her client’s bail was cancelled more than a year ago and his arrest was “out of the blue”.

Love appeared at Westminster magistrates court on Wednesday where he was granted conditional bail before a full extradition hearing on 1 September.

“He will certainly be fighting extradition,” Todner said.

Matthew Reilly, a spokesman for the US attorney’s office in New Jersey, said US officials had filed an extradition request.

According to the indictment against him in New York, Love bragged to other hackers in December 2012 that he controlled the computer server for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.



Using the moniker “peace”, Love told others in a chatroom that he had “shelled” – or infiltrated – the Federal Reserve computer system, the indictment said.

It said he had discussed possibly defacing the Federal Reserve website and sending fake emails to users of its computer system.

The indictment also said he informed other chat room members in February 2013 that he planned to publicly disseminate Federal Reserve computer system users’ passwords and phone numbers.

Previous US attempts to extradite British hackers have become highly politicised.

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Todner also represented Gary McKinnon, who was accused of breaking into US military computer systems in 2002.

McKinnon fought a decade-long legal battle that culminated in October 2012 when Theresa May, the home secretary, defied US authorities by blocking his extradition.

May told MPs she had taken the quasi-judicial decision on human rights grounds because of medical reports warning that McKinnon, 46, who has Asperger’s syndrome and suffers from depressive illness, could kill himself if sent to stand trial in the US.

The decision was criticised by the US State Department but welcomed by campaigners and politicians across the political spectrum in the UK.