MILWAUKEE (AP) - The Latest on the arrest of a British cybersecurity researcher accused of creating a malware program (all times local):
12:50 p.m.
British cybersecurity figure Marcus Hutchins may be at a federal halfway house in Las Vegas while he awaits transfer to Milwaukee to face charges in a computer fraud and malware case.
Attorneys for the 23-year-old Hutchins aren’t responding to messages.
But jail and federal officials say he was released Monday, after a judge on Friday ordered that he be held at a halfway house - or that he secure a place to stay on home detention with an ankle monitoring bracelet.
Javier Jimenez, chief assistant deputy marshal in Las Vegas, says Hutchins is no longer in U.S. Marshals Service custody.
Magistrate Judge Nancy Koppe on Friday also restricted Hutchins’ travel to Nevada’s Clark County and, for court purposes, to Milwaukee.
That’s where charges were filed and Hutchins’ arraignment is now set for Aug. 14.
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11 a.m.
A jail official in Nevada says British cybersecurity researcher Marcus Hutchins is no longer at the detention facility where he spent the weekend in U.S. federal custody.
Prison spokeswoman Kayla Gieni (DJEE’-nee) said Tuesday that jailers at the Nevada Southern Detention Center outside Las Vegas don’t know Hutchins’ current location.
Hutchins’ attorney in Las Vegas, Adrian Lobo, and lawyers with the Electronic Frontier Federation who had been involved in Hutchins’ case didn’t immediately respond to Associated Press messages seeking comment.
Hutchins won praise for helping to stop a worldwide ransomware attack last May, before he was arrested last week in Las Vegas on federal charges.
He is accused of creating and distributing a malware program in 2014 and 2015 to obtain banking passwords.
His arraignment was postponed from Tuesday to Aug. 14 in U.S. District Court in Milwaukee, where the charges are filed.
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8:30 a.m.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office says a Milwaukee court appearance for a British cybersecurity researcher accused of creating and distributing malware has been rescheduled.
Office spokeswoman Elizabeth Makowski says Marcus Hutchins is now scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 14 in federal court in Milwaukee. The arraignment was initially set for Tuesday.
Hutchins was arrested last week in Las Vegas. The charges against Hutchins claim that years before he was praised for helping to stop a worldwide ransomware attack last May he created and distributed a malware program to pilfer banking passwords from unsuspecting computer users.
Hutchins faces six counts, including conspiracy to commit computer fraud in 2014 and 2015.
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This item has been corrected to say Hutchins’ arraignment has been rescheduled for Aug. 14, not Aug. 15.
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2:50 a.m.
A Tuesday court date looms in Wisconsin for a British cybersecurity researcher arrested last week in Las Vegas, where he was still being held in federal custody on Monday.
Marcus Hutchins faces charges saying that years before he won acclaim for helping to stop a worldwide ransomware attack last May he created and distributed a malware program to pilfer banking passwords from unsuspecting computer users.
He was arrested last week at McCarran International Airport following the Def Con convention for computer security professionals in Las Vegas.
Electronic Frontier Foundation general counsel Kurt Opsahl says he’s awaiting word that $30,000 bail was posted and Hutchins had been released in Nevada.
Hutchins is due Tuesday in federal court in Milwaukee on six charges, including conspiracy to commit computer fraud in 2014 and 2015.
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