A 32-year-old British hacker facing federal charges in New Jersey in connection with a scheme to allegedly steal massive quantities of sensitive data from computers across the country will not be returned to the United States to face trial.
The High Court in London on Monday blocked the extradition of Lauri Love, but said he still might face prosecution in England.
"The British justice system has taken the stance that we should deal with the matter ourselves, rather than accept the U.S. government's demands," said the court.
Attorneys for Love said he suffers from Asperger's syndrome and depression, and argued it would be "unjust and oppressive" to send him to the U.S.
Love, who was charged in New Jersey, New York and Virginia, allegedly hacked into the networks of the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, and other government computers between 2012 and 2013.
"I am greatly relieved that I am no longer facing the prospect of being locked up for potentially the rest of my life in a country I have never visited," Love said following Monday's ruling.
He criticized prosecutors for suggesting his mental issues were fabricated, saying that such intimations only served to stigmatize people with similar problems.
Nicole Oxman, a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice, said, "We are reviewing the judgment of the High Court and have no further comment."
The U.S. has 14 days to lodge their grounds for appealing the decision to Britain's Supreme Court, said Love's lawyers.
According to the criminal complaint filed in New Jersey, Love and other unnamed co-conspirators hacked into a number of government and military computer systems, where they placed hidden "back doors" within the networks, allowing them to steal confidential data. Prosecutors said the stolen data included the personal information on thousands of individuals, including military personnel at Fort Monmouth.
The indictment, though, did not specify plans for the data, such as selling it to identity theft rings. Prosecutors said only that the object was to steal large quantities of non-public data, and to "disrupt the operations and infrastructure of the United States government."
During the cyber attack, investigators said Love would chat online with his co-conspirators.
"you have no idea how much we can [expletive] with the us government if we wanted to," he allegedly wrote on July 31 to an unnamed conspirator living in or near Australia, according to an exchange quoted in a federal indictment, using the moniker "peace." He allegedly sent out a follow-up message, reading, "this ... stuff is really sensitive."
"Ooh nice," his alleged co-conspirator responded.
Love allegedly responded: "it's basically every piece of information you'd need to do full identity theft on any employee or contractor for the [government agency]."
One of the attacks was launched from a computer server in or around Romania, which prosecutors said was leased by Love.
According to the indictment, unsealed in 2013 by the U.S. Attorney's office in New Jersey, the attack also targeted with Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, and Army database in Mississippi where the email addresses of military personnel were stolen. Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland was also breached, where defense department budgeting data was illegally accessed, an Army research and development center in Morris County, as well as the Strategic Studies Institute.
Lawyers for Love at an extradition hearing in November said there was a high risk he would kill himself if he was sent to the United States for prosecution.
In the ruling on Monday, the judges said the Crown Prosecution Service "must now bend its endeavors to his prosecution, with the assistance to be expected from the authorities in the United States, recognizing the gravity of the allegations in this case, and the harm done to the victims."
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.