Feds probe claimed Romney theft
The Secret Service is investigating a claim that copies of Mitt Romney’s tax returns were stolen from a PricewaterhouseCoopers office in Tennessee and are being held for ransom.
But so far there is no evidence the break-in even occurred.
In a statement released Wednesday, PricewaterhouseCoopers spokesman Chris Atkins said the company could not find any evidence that the break-in occurred.
“We are working closely with the United States Secret Service, and at this time there is no evidence that our systems have been compromised or that there was any unauthorized access to the data in question,” Atkins said.
Secret Service spokesman George Ogilvie confirmed Wednesday that the agency is investigating the allegations but declined further comment.
The Romney campaign directed press inquiries to PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The news started circulating across Internet message boards on Wednesday after reporter Ken Whitehouse of the Nashville City Paper published a story that linked to a letter from the alleged hacker that was posted to the online sharing site, Pastebin.
The letter claims a “team” stole copies of Romney’s pre-2010 tax returns from a PricewaterhouseCoopers office in Tennessee on Aug. 25. The group said it then distributed digital versions of those documents on flash drives to local party officials from both the Democratic and Republican parties in Williamson County, Tenn., in hopes of collecting a $1 million ransom to be paid in the virtual currency, bitcoin.
The cover letter posted on Pastebin alleges that: “A scanned signature image for Mitt Romney from the 1040 forms were scanned and included with the packages, taken from earlier 1040 tax forms gathered and stored on the flash drives.”
But so far none of the files have been opened by their recipients. Peter Burr, the chairman of the Williamson County Democratic Party, said he received the drive on Aug. 30 and immediately dismissed the package as a joke.
“I was thinking this thing very possibly has viruses on it,” told POLITICO. “The last thing I want to do is trash our computer.”
He didn’t take it seriously until the Secret Service called to come pick it up.
Burr said he received a phone call from a Secret Service agent on Wednesday morning after county GOP officials reported their drive to the authorities. But he lost his chance to have a look when he handed over the documents.
“I asked them if they would be able to get back to us and let us know if anything came of it from their end and they said ‘no,’” he said.