Judge Denies Bail For Accused Capital One Hacker

The woman who was accused of hacking into Capital One’s cloud and swiping the information of more than 100 million people was denied bail, Bloomberg reported on Friday (Aug. 23).

Paige A. Thompson, 33, was described by prosecutors as a loose cannon with violent tendencies, the article said.

The accused has been jailed since her arrest in July; she was deemed a danger to herself and must stay locked up while the case proceeds, ruled U.S. Magistrate Judge Michelle L. Peterson.

Thompson is being held in a male unit under Federal Bureau of Prisons policy, which rarely allows transgender inmates to be housed based on their gender identity, prosecutors said in a court filing.

The prison, which is located near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, “has taken the unusual step of placing Thompson in a cell with her former housemate, Park Quan, with whom Thompson has expressed a preference for sharing a cell,” prosecutors said in the filing on Thursday (Aug. 22).

Prosecutors argued in a court filing before the hearing that Thompson has a long history of dangerous behavior that includes threats to kill others and to commit “suicide by cop.” They also claim there is a risk she could carry out additional hacks.

Court filings show Thompson’s court-appointed lawyer Mohammad Hamoudi asked that she be released to a GPS-monitored halfway house. On Friday (Aug. 23), he said at the hearing that Thompson wasn’t a risk to the community and that her previous threats of suicide were not sufficient to detain her. “We do not detain individuals with no criminal history, not even a speeding ticket, charged with not a violent offense, simply because they have mental health issues,” he said.