Charges Filed in the Case of the Missing FOIA Data
Following a Bloomberg News investigation in May, twin brothers Muneeb and Sohaib Akhter were charged with computer crimes related to the theft of government data and destruction of databases.
Welcome back to FOIA Files. Big news on the FOIA front this week following an exclusive investigative report I published in May. The twin brothers who were accused of compromising databases at a government contractor that provides agencies with tools to process Freedom of Information Act requests were arrested on Wednesday and charged with computer crimes. Let’s dig into the case. If you’re not already getting FOIA Files in your inbox, sign up here.
To refresh your memory: In February, I learned that hundreds of FOIA requests submitted to government agencies had disappeared. As I dug around to find out what happened, I obtained documents (not through the FOIA) that revealed the culprits to be twin brothers and “computer prodigies” Muneeb and Sohaib Akhter.