Former Uber exec charged with a Bitcoin coverup

A new criminal complaint against the former Chief Security Officer of Uber alleges he helped cover up a crime, using Bitcoin to do so. Unfortunately for him, the alleged cover up doesn’t appear to have worked, and the auditable nature of Bitcoin ensured it never would.

Joseph Sullivan, who was CSO for Uber until November 2017, is accused of concealing facts from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) after a 20176 hack, which compromised the data of millions of users and drivers. According to a Press Release from the Department of Justice, “the criminal complaint alleges that Sullivan took deliberate steps to conceal, deflect, and mislead the Federal Trade Commission about the breach.”

Part of those steps includes using Uber’s bounty program to pay off the hackers. While Uber was cooperating with the FTC in an investigation into a 2014 breach, a new 2016 breach led Sullivan to allegedly pay $100,00 in Bitcoin in December of that year. Sullivan then both concealed information about this affair from both the FTC and Uber’s new management team, which took over in 2017.

The hackers have already been prosecuted and plead guilty to their actions in 2019. This new complaint against Sullivan implies that they were inspired to conduct future hacks after they managed to get payment out of Uber.