A British man accused of operating under the alias “IntelBroker” on cybercrime forums has been indicted for allegedly selling stolen data in a case that caused more than $25 million in damage.
The US Southern District of New York Attorney’s Office announced Kai West’s indictment on Wednesday. West allegedly operated on online black markets under the IntelBroker pseudonym and caused in excess of $25 million in damage to victims.
Former US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair and attorney Jay Clayton was among the people responsible for unsealing the indictment. “This action reflects the FBI’s commitment to pursuing cybercriminals around the world,” he said.
West reportedly conspired with online cybercrime group CyberN***ers to steal data from multiple companies. Those included a telecommunications company, a municipal healthcare provider, an internet service provider and over 40 other corporations.
Undercover purchase triggered charges
According to the complaint, an undercover law enforcement agent sent a private message to IntelBroker to purchase data of a victim for $250 worth of Bitcoin (BTC). An address attributed to West was provided, and after the payment, the data was delivered, allegedly including three admin-level usernames and passwords.
West and his online collaborators reportedly offered the illicitly acquired data for sale for over $2 million. He was then arrested in France in February, and the US is currently seeking his extradition.
FBI Assistant Director in Charge Christopher Raia said West is a “serial hacker” and that he was able to “sell it for millions in illicit funds.” IntelBroker was active on the now-defunct cybercrime forum BreachForums.
Related: Coinbase data leak could put users in physical danger: TechCrunch founder
According to the announcement, a review of the 158 threads allegedly started by West offered stolen data for sale, in Forum-1 credits (BreachForums’ internal currency), as well as for free. He was reportedly active from approximately January 2023 to February 2025, with at least 41 of his threads selling data from companies based in the US.
Of those 158 threads, 16 posts included a specific asking price for the data, reaching a total of at least $2,467,000. Messages allegedly written by West also showed that he accepted payments via privacy coin Monero (XMR).
IntelBroker achieved notoriety on BreachForums to the extent that he was identified as the site’s owner starting in August 2024.
Related: Millions of OpenSea user emails leaked in 2022 now fully public: SlowMist
Data leaks and breaches continue happening
The news follows the recent leak of more than 16 billion login credentials from leading online service providers, which could have potential consequences for cryptocurrency holders. Earlier this month, it was reported that Coinbase was informed in January that an employee of an outsourcing firm may have leaked customer data.
The breach was disclosed in mid-May, when a $20 million extortion attempt hit Coinbase after cybercriminals recruited overseas support agents to leak user data. “These insiders abused their access to customer support systems to steal the account data for a small subset of customers,” Coinbase said at the time.
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