US embassy worker in London arrested for 'sextortion'
A State Department employee has been arrested on charges of scamming and blackmailing hundreds of women from his computer at the US Embassy in London.
Michael C. Ford was arrested last week for what has been described by federal agents as “sextorting” hundreds of young women, mostly college students, he met online.
He has also been accused of hacking into email accounts of his victims and obtaining their private photos, which he would later on use for blackmailing purposes.
Ford, 35 and married, has been living in Britain since 2005 and was arrested while visiting his family in the United States.
According to prosecutors, once he was in possession of the explicit photos, Ford would threaten his victims demanding them to shoot sexual footage of other women.
"I want you to record videos of sexy girls changing. In gyms, clothing stores, pools... You do that, and I disappear," he wrote to one victim, as reads one of the court documents.
When his victims refused to comply, Ford would send a follow-up email, telling them that, “OK, time's up. Everything I have will be posted online and sent to your friends. Pictures, name, phone number, home address... I gave you a chance and you blew it!"
Court documents suggest that, at least in one case, Ford emailed a woman’s photos to her parents and brother. He managed to get her password through a “phishing” scam using his computer at the US Embassy in London.
Ford is currently under house arrest with a bond amounting to $50,000. A request by Senior Trial Attorney Mona Sedky, on behalf of the victims, to deny Ford a bond has been rebuffed by the court.
On Thursday, a spokeswoman for the US State Department described Ford as an “administrative support employee,” who is no longer working at the embassy.
MTM/HRJ
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