Biglaw Firm, Former U.S. Attorney Accused of Hacking Cover-Up
Bloomberg Law is reporting that a little-noticed lawsuit filed in New York federal court accuses a former federal prosecutor of unethically preventing a whistleblower from telling the FTC that he hacked an embattled company’s files using “FBI surveillance software” that the prosecutor gave him.
The allegations are in a suit against former U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, the global megafirm where she is now a partner, according to reporter Samson Habte.
Plaintiff LabMD Inc., a cancer-screening firm, says it went out of business after falling victim to a “shakedown scheme” by a cybersecurity firm that hacked the lab’s files—and then reported it to the FTC when it refused to pay for “remediation” services.
LabMD’s complaint alleges Buchanan gave FBI surveillance tools to Tiversa Inc., which then allegedly used the tool to hack LabMD. It also alleges Buchanan unethically represented the whistleblower in FTC proceedings to keep him from divulging how Tiversa received the hacking tool.