Tor Ekeland
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Tor Bernhard Ekeland (born June 30, 1969) is a New York City based computer, trial and appellate lawyer. He is best known for representing hackers prosecuted under the
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 (CFAA) is a United States cybersecurity bill that was enacted in 1986 as an amendment to existing computer fraud law (), which had been included in the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984. The law pr ...
("CFAA"), as well as white-collar defendants, in federal criminal court and on appeal across the United States.


Biography

He graduated ''cum laude'' from
Fordham University School of Law Fordham University School of Law is the law school of Fordham University. The school is located in Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city. In 2013, 91% of the law school's first-time test take ...
in 2006, where he served on the
Fordham Law Review The ''Fordham Law Review'' is a student-run law journal associated with the Fordham University School of Law that covers a wide range of legal scholarship. Overview In 2017, the ''Fordham Law Review'' was the seventh-most cited law journal by o ...
. After law school, he practiced complex commercial and securities litigation at
Sidley Austin Sidley Austin LLP is an American multinational law firm with approximately 2,000 lawyers in 20 offices worldwide. The firm's headquarters is at One South Dearborn in Chicago's Loop. The firm specializes in a variety of areas in both litigation ...
in New York City. He is the Managing Partner of Tor Ekeland Law, PLLC. H


Notable Representations

* Represented Andrew "weev" Auernheimer at trial and on Auernheimer's successful 2014 appeal to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, both as co-counsel; called "the Troll's lawyer" by
Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
* Part of team representing journalist Matthew Keys pro bono, who was charged with hacking when he gave
Anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...
credentials to the
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
website. Keys was found guilty. * Co-counsel representing Anthony Conti at his LIBOR rate manipulation trial in the Southern District of New York, and on his successful appeal on fifth amendment grounds. * Representing Fidel Salinas pro bono. Salinas was indicted on 44 federal felony counts of computer crime for his work with Anonymous, including 18 cyberstalking charges. Ekeland negotiated a
plea deal A plea bargain (also plea agreement or plea deal) is an agreement in criminal law proceedings, whereby the prosecutor provides a concession to the defendant in exchange for a plea of guilt or ''nolo contendere.'' This may mean that the defendant ...
for Salinas's original misdemeanor charge, unrelated to the Anonymous charges. An
Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. The foundation was formed on 10 July 1990 by John Gilmore, John Perry Barlow and Mitch Kapor to promote Internet ci ...
representative called the felony counts a "vindictive indictment" since Salinas refused to cooperate. * Representing Justin Shafer, who was indicted on 6 federal felony counts of computer crime, and negotiating a single misdemeanor plea deal; * Representing the U.K. hacker Lauri Love as his U.S. counsel. The United States Department of Justice indicted Love for felony CFAA violations in New York City, New Jersey, and Virginia. Alongside the Courage Foundation, Ekeland contributed to the successful fight to prevent Love's extradition from the U.K. * Representing Deric Lostutter, the hacker and member of Anonymous, in his plea agreement for his indictment for hacking the fan website for the football team implicated in the
Steubenville High School rape case The Steubenville High School rape occurred in Steubenville, Ohio on the night of August11, 2012, when a high school girl, incapacitated by alcohol, was publicly and repeatedly sexually assaulted by her peers, several of whom documented the acts o ...
; * Representing the hacker Matt DeHart in his plea deal; * Representing Keith Gartenlaub on his FISA search warrant appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal as co-counsel alongside John D. Cline. * Working for
Clearview AI Clearview AI is an American Facial recognition system, facial recognition company, providing software to companies, law enforcement, universities, and individuals. The company's algorithm matches faces to a database of more than 20 billion images ...
.


Personal life

In February 2019, Ekeland became engaged to Carrie Goldberg, an attorney specializing in revenge porn and other sex crimes; they had worked together in a lawsuit against
Grindr Grindr () is a location-based social networking and online dating application targeted towards members of the gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community. It was one of the first geosocial apps for gay men when it launched in March 2009 an ...
.


See also

*
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 (CFAA) is a United States cybersecurity bill that was enacted in 1986 as an amendment to existing computer fraud law (), which had been included in the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984. The law pr ...
*
weev Andrew Alan Escher Auernheimer ( ; born ), best known by his pseudonym weev, is an American computer hacker and professional Internet troll. Affiliated with the alt-right, the Southern Poverty Law Center has described him as being a neo-Nazi ...


References


External links


Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ekeland, Tor Living people New York (state) lawyers Place of birth missing (living people) 1969 births