Blackmail of Hotel Guests Based on Their Internet History

To whom it may concern,

I really appreciate if someone could give me some legal direction on this crime. Money is not an issue, especially if someone can help me out. This is just my opinion but I really believe that this case is a lot bigger than Erin Andrews’s case mainly because there are a lot of victims that have been blackmailed for the sole purpose of extorting money and this is done by hotel employees, using hotel equipment while working/living on hotel property. I have extremely strong evidence to prove all my claims including but not limited to a secretly recorded conversation from a key hotel employee asking for money in exchange for the compromising information not to become public. The hackers have used the nickname Foxy Sparkle with previous victims. This is very similar case to Ronald Oates.

Basic background:

Location: This hotel is located in one of Caribbean islands in West Indies. The hotel chain also owns a building (compound A) right next door where they house foreign workers who come here to train the locals. Compound A has a lot of empty rooms which they rent out to students who come to the island to study. All utilities including the TV and high speed internet is connected to the hotel next door. When you turn on the TV in compound A, it says “welcome to [Hotel Name]”.

Victims: Young, MALE students. There are a couple of medical schools on this island and every four months about 1500 new students from U.S and Canada come here to start a new semester in the hopes of getting a residency spot back home.

How the crime is done: The hotel chain's IT employees monitor the internet usage of students and which adult websites they visit. When they have a lead, they first hack into the students email and if they found something, they go further by installing a malware into the victims computer to possibly extort more compromising content(i.e. pictures). The malware is installed through a fake update prompt for “YouTube Downloader” software.

What they do next: First they ask the victim himself to pay up or they will release the content. If he refuses, they will email the compromising content to his family and they threaten the family that they will continue with friends and relatives if they don’t get paid. At the same time, to increase the pressure, they email the relatives and they tell them that they own very compromising information about the victim. This makes the victims relatives to call and ask what is going on. The IT also email the victim’s parents couple of fake LinkedIn emails which contains the profile of the relatives that they intent to send the compromising content to.

They are extremely skilled at this. Even if they found the least amount of discriminating content, they will do their best to build on it by adding content from the previous victim, editing/using private pictures from others or even creating their own fake content in order to increase their leverage.

Effort to counter their attack: I have filed nine police reports with the local police station that is located across from the hotel; however I believe the officers are on this too because they write my report on a piece of scrap paper and they tell me to go home and not to talk to anyone. When I come back the next day, there is no evidence of me ever being in that police station. I actually started recording myself in order to prove that I have been filing reports regarding this crime. I also filed to police report in my state but I was told that the police have no jurisdiction over this crime.

I tried to contact couple of attorneys on the island; however even though there are many attorneys there, not many of them practice criminal litigation.

I even sent a letter along with some preliminary evidence to the hotel using a certified mail. Even though the front desk employee signed for the package(I have proof), it never got to the management because I got a threatening email from the hacker describing what was written in the letter and that there is going to be a major consequence if I try to contact them again.

Can you please help me with these questions?

#1)What is the jurisdiction to file a defamation lawsuit in this case? This crime is being done by hotel employees in the Caribbean so the case is going to be against the hotel chain; however, ALL the victims are spread across the U.S or Canada. There are other lawsuits against this hotel (i.e. slip and fall) and they are being filed in U.S states. There are 3 IT employees that are behind this. Two of them are locals and one is a white guy that lives in one of the rooms in the hotel. The spouses of two of the IT work in compound A as a manager and maintenance coordinator.

#2)How can you ask the judge to make this case sealed? I think this is one of those rare cases and the victims have the absolute right to privacy.

#3)What type of attorney accepts cases like this? If know someone, can you please refer me to them?

I really appreciate anyone help. Filing a lawsuit is the only way to stop the harassment. I am working with a local news paper and they have already published an indirect article on their website about the extortion ring that exists on this island in order to inform other victims that they are not alone. Upper management has no idea that this is happening but for some reason a lot of locals know about this crime. I am open to anyone suggestion.

We handle US law only.

You're going to have to address this with the authorities in whatever Caribbean country this is. Just because the hotel chain is a US company doesn't make this a US legal issue.

Who are YOU in this? You can't sue because someone is doing an injury to someone else (at least by US law), you have to be the injured party to have standing.

All the activity occurs while in that Caribbean nation. That's where the perpetrators are, that's where the victims are located when the hacking occurs, and then the money demands are made. Thus the victims will have to pursue whatever remedies are allowed in that Caribbean nation. The fact that the students are citizens of the U.S. and Canada does not give them a claim to pursue in the U.S. By the way, they could not sue the hotel chain for this in the U.S anyway since the hotel chain almost certainly does not sanction the illegal acts of the those persons on the hotel property and the law only makes an employer liable for the acts of its employees that are done within the scope of employment.

I tried to inform the upper management on what has been happening but they turned a blind eye on it. I was attacked heavily after I tried to inform the employers on what their employee are up to. In my opinion this case is going to be against the hotel chain and not the hotel on that island.
This is from law.com.

Quote:

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Quoting [Hotel

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IT is hacking male students for blackmail money".]
"Hi Zddoodah,

Thank you for your post. I didn’t give enough details about the scope of this crime In order to protect the privacy of the victims but this is far bigger case than the people are referring to in this thread. I am obviously not blaming anyone for this because you haven’t given all the information but trust me that if this gets out, it will very easily get on CNN. I have no evidence to prove this but I won’t be surprise one bit if some of the victims may have committed suicide over this. This organized crime has been going for many years and tens of thousands of extortion money have been paid to hotel employees. I just thought a public forum is not the right place to discuss the details and the latter should be done with an attorney.

I personally don’t agree that the employers are innocent here. They obviously created a workplace without any supervision where this kind of crime can happen for many years. Also, I have done incredible work to bring this to their attention in order for them to put a lid on this crime INTERNALLY; however they have been extremely resistant and may I say negligent. I have called the hotel chain's customer service many times regarding this crime with no effect. I even went to the hotel itself and talked to the director. He wouldn’t believe what I was saying and he didn’t even look at the evidence. Also, because he didn’t want the guests in the lobby to hear about their employee and blackmailing, he told me to leave the hotel and never return to the property. I can somewhat understand his reaction however my point is that I have done everything to bring this to the employers attention. In that certified packaged that I sent them, I wrote that I will even pay for the hotel chain's attorney myself so I can show the evidence of what their employees are up to however, as I said, that certifies letter never got to the upper management.

As I said in my initial post, money is not an issue if someone can help me out. I am also not looking for a financial reward. I just don’t want to be any future victims.

Filing a lawsuit will bring a lot of attention to this matter and even if the victims are no longer on the island, and they are most likely not, it will inform them that they are not the only victim. The hackers had operated in a very similar manner in the past so the way one victim was attacked will be very similar to the next victim. A lawsuit is the only way to stop the harassment.

I am open to anyone’s suggestion."

Manager: "You have something called "ransomeware"

Manager: "No, It is assed"

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As all the events about which you complain are taking place outside the U.S. there is not going to be a basis for suing the hotel or its parent in U.S. courts. It is the law of that island nation that applies to what is going on there, and it is there you likely need to seek your remedy.

OP was told the very same thing on the other board by the other posters. He wants a different answer here, but there truly isn't one that anyone knows of so far.

Okay, maybe if someone uses his format he'll get the idea.

#1)What is the jurisdiction to file a defamation lawsuit in this case? The jurisdiction will be the Caribbean island where it is taking place.

#2)How can you ask the judge to make this case sealed? See below

#3)What type of attorney accepts cases like this? An attorney who is familiar with the law of, and licensed to practice in, the island jurisdiction where this is taking place. This attorney will also know the procedure for having the records sealed, should that be appropriate.

Thank you everyone for your responses.
I am certainly not an expert at this, but I personally believe that this case will be tried in U.S.. As I mentioned, there are other cases pending against this particular hotel. In one instance, the plaintiff actually amended her application and removed this particular hotel and only left the international chain as a main defendant. This way she bypassed the forum non convenience criteria and her case is proceeding in U.S. courts. In my opinion, this is a huge case given the extend of the crime. Filing a lawsuit is my only way to stop the harassment. Also, some victims may not know that hotel employees are behind this and they may also think they are one of victim.
I have extremely strong evidence to prove my case. I have also talked to a company that does forensic work on hard drives and they told me they can find the origin of where the malware was installed. Even despite this, I can prove my case in court right now given the recordings that I have from the employees.
Again, thank you everyone for your time and help.

Quote:

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Quoting Foxy Sparkle

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Thank you everyone for your responses.
I am certainly not an expert at this, but I personally believe that this case will be tried in U.S.

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As all the actions of which you complain take place on that island nation is is the law of that island nation that would apply, even if the lawsuit is brought in the U.S. In order to bring the lawsuit in the U.S the court must have personal jurisdiction over the defendant. The individuals doing this are evidently residents of the island nation and thus not likely to be subject to U.S. jurisdiction. If the law of the island nation at all allows the hotel for whom they work to be liable for these acts you have the problem that the corporation is a foreign corporation and thus not subject to jurisdiction in the U.S. The U.S. parent, while subject to U.S. court jurisdiction is unlikely to be liable for the acts of those employees of its foreign subsidiary. Thus, as I said before, it is unlikely that you can successfully litigate this in the U.S. And if you can, again it is the law of the foreign nation that will apply, and as you haven not mentioned the country I have no idea if its law would even provide you any remedy for this in the first place. By all means consult a civil litigation attorney in your state about trying to do this in the U.S. and see what the attorney tells you. Perhaps something you have not said here would make a difference. You will certainly need a lawyer for this. But I rather think you have an uphill climb here trying to do that and hold the parent liable.

Just asking - because I don't know...

What is the island is a US territory? Puerto Rico?