Points for United States v. Thompson

*The Ninth Circuit correctly reversed a preposterous district court sentence for Paige Thompson, a transgender individual convicted of, at the time, the second largest data breach in American history.

*The Sentencing Guidelines for Thompson were calculated at a range of 168-210 months’ imprisonment. The Biden Justice Department asked for a dramatic departure, requesting a sentence of only 84 months’ imprisonment.

*Clinton appointee Robert Lasnick went even further, sentencing Thompson to time served (about three months) and five years’ probation, including three years of home confinement, plus fifty hours of community service for each year of probation.

*Thompson caused approximately $40 million in damage, as determined by the restitution imposed, plus untold emotional damage.

*A former Amazon employee, Thompson hacked into Amazon services and stole personally identifying information from nearly a hundred million Americans from Capital One alone. Thompson used her hacking skills to mine cryptocurrency and engage in cryptojacking, using others’ computers to procure cryptocurrency and keep it for herself. The hacked individuals were charged large sums for the electricity used in furtherance of Thompson’s scheme.

*During her pretrial release, Thompson engaged in an unauthorized accessing of approximately $40,000 of cryptocurrency from one of her crypto wallets to another. Thompson also used her computer for unauthorized purposes and lied about it.

*Thompson bragged about her crimes and threatened to reveal data she had hacked publicly. Thompson also expressed her desire that others engage in hacking.

*Thompson did not accept responsibility before trial; she was convicted. Thompson also did not write a letter accepting responsibility to the judge, only expressing remorse briefly at sentencing.

*Nevertheless, Judge Lasnick imposed a shockingly light sentence, focusing on Thompson’s transgender status and her potential difficulty in the Bureau of Prisons (BOP). The judge speculated that BOP policies sympathetic to transgender individuals could change under another president; this sentencing took place during the Biden presidency.

*The judge also ignored aggravating evidence and claimed with no reasonable basis that Thompson was not a risk for recidivism.

*The Ninth Circuit correctly classified this sentence as substantively unreasonable. Had Thompson not been transgender, it is plain that the government would have asked for—and she would have received—a much harsher sentence. Thompson’s characteristics were the sole basis for the staggering leniency she received.

*Trump appointee Danielle Forrest authored the opinion. Clinton appointee Johnnie Rawlinson—one of the few reasonable judges from recent Democratic presidents—joined the reversal of Judge Lasnick’s ludicrous decision. Leftist Biden appointee Jennifer Sung—who had signed a letter calling Yale, her alma mater, “morally bankrupt” for congratulating then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh on his Supreme Court nomination—authored a dissent in which she opined that Judge Lasnick had acted reasonably. Judge Sung is one of the disastrous appointees of President Biden who will haunt us for decades.