The cybersecurity pro who was supposed to help companies out of ransomware nightmares has admitted he was secretly helping the hackers instead.
Angelo John Martino III, a 41-year-old former ransomware negotiator from Tampa, pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring with the BlackCat/ALPHV ransomware group to attack and extort U.S. companies, according to court filings. Prosecutors say Martino abused his position at an incident-response firm to leak confidential negotiation data to criminals, then teamed up with them to run attacks himself. He pleaded guilty to a federal extortion conspiracy charge and faces up to 20 years in prison, with sentencing set for July 9, 2026, as noted by The Hacker News.
According to a post by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida on X, prosecutors say Martino sold out his clients by secretly providing BlackCat operators with victims’ insurance-policy limits and internal bargaining positions, then taking payments in return. The government says that kind of double-dealing not only hurt victims, it also shook confidence in the entire incident-response industry.
How prosecutors say the scheme worked
Prosecutors allege that Martino went beyond quiet leaks and formally signed up as an affiliate with the ALPHV ransomware operation. While officially negotiating on behalf of five client organizations, he was allegedly feeding the attackers inside information that let them crank up their ransom demands, according to CyberScoop…