A former Army soldier, Cameron John Wagenius, has been sentenced to 70 months in prison for a series of cyber attacks and extortion attempts targeting major telecom companies, including AT&T. The Justice Department announced the sentencing on Friday, highlighting Wagenius’s extensive cybercrime activities that spanned several years, even while he was on active duty at a Texas military base. Prior to his arrest in December 2024, he attempted to sell stolen sensitive data to a foreign intelligence service and sought information about defecting to Russia.
According to reporting by CyberScoop, Wagenius leaked call records of former President Donald Trump during multiple failed extortion attempts aimed at securing $500,000 from AT&T. Authorities revealed that he disclosed non-content call detail records belonging to a government official and family members of another official. In July, AT&T confirmed that cybercriminals had accessed its Snowflake environment, resulting in the theft of six months’ worth of phone and text records for nearly all its customers.
Wagenius and his co-conspirator, Connor Moucka, attempted to extort over ten organizations after breaching cloud platforms used by AT&T and other major companies. Moucka, who was extradited to the U.S. in March 2025, pleaded guilty in August to his role in one of the most extensive cyberattacks of 2024, which compromised over 165 Snowflake customer environments.
Prosecutors indicated that Wagenius, Moucka, and another alleged co-conspirator, John Erin Binns, who remains at large, collectively stole billions of sensitive records and received over $2.5 million in extortion payments. Victims included AT&T, Ticketmaster, Advance Auto Parts, and Santander. At the time of his arrest, Wagenius possessed records stolen during the Snowflake attack spree and was involved in extortion attempts totaling more than $1 million.
Wagenius was ordered to pay nearly $295,000 in restitution. Officials noted that his hacking activities were driven not only by financial gain but also by a desire for status within criminal hacking communities. The FBI expressed particular concern over the actions of a member of the armed forces engaging in such violations of privacy.
During the investigation, law enforcement discovered that Wagenius had access to thousands of stolen identification documents and significant amounts of cryptocurrency. He reportedly purchased a new laptop against orders from his commanding officer and used it daily while attempting to conceal his identity with VPN software.
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