Jeremy Hammond

Jeremy Alexander Hammond (born January 8, 1985), also known by his online moniker sup_g, is an American anarchist activist and former computer hacker from Chicago. He founded the computer security training website HackThisSite in 2003. He was first imprisoned over the Protest Warrior hack in 2005 and was later convicted of computer fraud in 2013 for hacking the private intelligence firm Stratfor and releasing data to WikiLeaks, and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In 2019, he was summoned before a Virginia federal grand jury which was investigating WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange. He was held in civil contempt of court after refusing to testify on the principle of grand jury resistance.

Early life

Jeremy Alexander Hammond was born and raised in the Chicago suburb of Glendale Heights, Illinois, with his twin brother Jason. Hammond became interested in computers at an early age, programming video games in QBasic by age eight, and building databases by age thirteen.

Hammond worked as a Mac technician in Villa Park, Illinois.

Activism and computer hacking

Hammond founded the computer security training website HackThisSite at age 18, during the summer after his high school graduation. In its first two years the site received 2.5 million hits and acquired 110,000 members and a volunteer staff of 34.

Stratfor case

On March 5, 2012, Hammond was arrested by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago for his involvement in the December 2011 cyberattack on Stratfor, a private intelligence firm. The intrusion compromised 60,000 credit card numbers, $700,000 in fraudulent charges, and involved the download of 5 million emails, some of which were subsequently published by WikiLeaks. He was one of six individuals from the United States, England and Ireland indicted.

The FBI was led to Hammond through information given by computer hacker Hector Xavier Monsegur ("Sabu"), who became a government informant immediately after his arrest in early 2011, and subsequently pleaded guilty in August 2011 to twelve counts of hacking, fraud, and identity theft. Although Monsegur could have received a sentence of more than 20 years in prison, prosecutors asked that he be sentenced to time served, which was seven months in prison. Information from Monsegur helped lead the authorities to at least eight co-conspirators, including Hammond, Hammond was represented by Elizabeth Fink.

Sabu was detained pending trial; in denying bail, Judge Loretta A. Preska described Hammond as "a very substantial danger to the community." In February 2013, the defense filed a motion asking presiding Judge Preska to recuse herself from the case on the basis that Preska's husband, Thomas Kavaler, had an email address released in the Stratfor disclosure and worked with Stratfor clients that were affected by the hack. Hammond's legal team argued that this created "appearance of partiality too strong to be disregarded". Preska denied the motion, claiming that the connections were inconsequential or unimportant.

In May 2013, Hammond pleaded guilty Upon his guilty plea, Hammond issued a statement saying, "I did work with Anonymous to hack Stratfor, among other websites" and "I did what I believe is right." Prosecutors granted Hammond immunity from prosecution based on any grand jury testimony, so Hammond could not refuse to testify on the ground of his right against self-incrimination.

Personal life He frequently identifies as an anarchist and has a shoulder tattoo of the anarchy symbol with the words: "Freedom, equality, anarchy."