Matthew Keys, deputy social media editor for Reuters, has been charged with conspiring with members of Anonymous to hack into the website of the Los Angeles Times in December 2010.

Keys, 26, was charged with one count each of conspiracy to transmit information to damage a protected computer, transmitting information to damage a protected computer, and attempted transmission of information to damage a protected computer. The crimes carry sentences of up to ten years and fines of up to $250,000, though any actual sentences are likely to be a small fraction of these.

Keys was a former employee of California television station KTXL Fox 40. Fox 40 and the LA Times are both owned by media conglomerate the Tribune Company. Through his employment, he had credentials to the Tribune Company's content management system (CMS).

The indictment includes a partial IRC transcript which purports to show Keys, under the username AESCracked, chatting with an Anonymous member calling himself "sharpie" in the channel #internetfeds. Keys identified himself as a former Tribune employee, and is alleged to have provided a username and password for the Tribune CMS that allowed hackers to modify stories posted on latimes.com. These credentials were subsequently used to deface one story for approximately 30 minutes.

Court documents show that notorious hacker—and, later, FBI informant—Hector "Sabu" Monsegur participated in the IRC discussion. Sabu outed Keys as being involved in the latimes.com hack in March 2011, a couple of months prior to his arrest and co-operation with law enforcement.