Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York | Department of Justice
Nathan Austad, also known as “Snoopy,” pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit computer intrusion in connection with a hacking scheme targeting a fantasy sports and betting website. The announcement was made by Jay Clayton, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Austad entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams.
“Today’s guilty plea shows our Office’s commitment to holding cybercriminals who hack and steal from our citizens to account,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “Austad and his co-defendants robbed their victims, including New Yorkers, and shamelessly sold their private account information online. Let this be a warning: hackers and cybercriminals who target New Yorkers will be brought to justice. The women and men of our Office are watching and are committed to protecting the public from cyber intrusions, theft, and the online criminal markets that enable them.”
According to court documents, Austad participated in a credential stuffing attack on November 18, 2022. In such attacks, stolen username and password pairs from other data breaches are used in attempts to access accounts where users have reused credentials across multiple services. Austad and his co-conspirators attempted to log into user accounts at the targeted betting website using these stolen credentials.
Through this method, they gained unauthorized access to about 60,000 user accounts. In approximately 1,600 cases, Austad and others added new payment methods linked to themselves and withdrew existing funds from victim accounts. This resulted in the theft of around $600,000.
In addition to stealing funds directly, access to compromised accounts was sold on websites trafficking in stolen credentials—often called “Shops.” Austad managed his own shop named after the Peanuts character Snoopy.
Messages cited in court proceedings show that Austad discussed awareness of law enforcement investigations with associates. On December 2, 2022, he messaged about the investigation: “everyone shouldve been prepared for this before cashing out lol,” while a co-conspirator responded: “lol fbi can’t do shit.” On May 19, 2023, Austad wrote: “like we didnt know the risk when we started lol . . . everyone knows their committing fraud.”
Austad also controlled cryptocurrency accounts that received roughly $465,000 worth of digital assets connected to these crimes.
Austad is scheduled for sentencing on April 10, 2026. He faces up to five years in prison; however, actual sentencing will be determined by the judge.
Jay Clayton commended the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on this case.
The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kevin Mead and Micah Fergenson from the Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit.
