A Charlotte man who called himself “Loot” online is now a convicted cyber extortionist after a federal jury decided he tried to squeeze $2.5 million in cryptocurrency from a Washington, D.C. tech firm by threatening to dump its workers’ personal data.
Jurors in Charlotte found 27-year-old Cameron Curry guilty on Thursday of six counts tied to transmitting interstate communications with the intent to extort. Prosecutors said Curry used his role as a contract data analyst to dig into personnel and corporate files, then tried to cash in by promising to leak employees’ personally identifiable information if the company did not pay up.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina, the verdict capped a three-day trial in front of U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell that leaned on documents, witness testimony and electronic evidence. Curry now faces up to two years in prison on each count, with a sentencing date in the Western District of North Carolina still to be determined.
Federal prosecutors in D.C. say Curry was not subtle about his demands. As laid out by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Curry used the alias “Loot” and fired off more than 60 threatening emails between Dec. 11, 2023, and Jan. 24, 2024. Those messages demanded $2.5 million in cryptocurrency and warned that sensitive company records would be exposed if the money did not arrive. Investigators said they tied the “Loot” account to Curry using email metadata, user records and cryptocurrency wallet information.
How prosecutors say he did it
Jurors heard that Curry had been contracted to the victim company for roughly six months and was trusted with broad data access that he allegedly turned against his client. Prosecutors said he misused that access to pull down employee information and other sensitive corporate records, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina.
On Jan. 24, 2024, federal agents searched Curry’s home and seized electronic devices. Forensic analysis later tied those devices to the “Loot” communications at the heart of the case, prosecutors said. Local outlets quickly picked up the story at the time of his arrest and initial court appearance, including WBTV.
What’s next
Curry had already admitted to a related extortion charge in Washington, D.C., in September 2024, in a separate but connected case. That earlier plea was detailed in coverage of his D.C. plea deal.
With the Charlotte conviction now in hand, Curry faces additional federal exposure in the Western District of North Carolina. Judges in both jurisdictions are expected to schedule sentencing in the coming months, and those decisions will determine whether he serves time in the Charlotte case on top of whatever punishment comes out of the earlier D.C. proceeding.
For the victim company and plenty of others like it, the case is a stark reminder of how much damage an insider with a contractor badge and wide network access can do. It also underscores how often cryptocurrency shows up these days as the preferred payment method in modern extortion schemes. Federal prosecutors and the FBI, for now, are letting their press releases speak for them.
