USD10 million reward for aiding arrest of interferers in US presidential elections
Aug 05, 2020
Washington DC [USA], Aug 6 : US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on Wednesday announced USD 10 million as a reward for the arrest of anybody who interferes in the upcoming presidential elections this November.
"The State Department's Reward for Justice Programme is offering up to USD 10 million for providing information leading up to the identification or location of any person acting at the direction or under the control of a foreign government interferes with the US elections by engaging in certain criminal cyber activities," Pompeo told reporters here.
"Persons engaged in certain malicious cyber operations targeting election or campaign infrastructure may be subject to prosecution under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, 18 U.S.C. SS 1030, which criminalizes unauthorized computer intrusions and other forms of fraud related to computers. Among other offenses, the statute prohibits unauthorized accessing of computers to obtain information and transmit it to unauthorized recipients," the State Department said in a statement.
However, he did not mention Russia who as US Intelligence services have accused of interfering in the US 2016 Presidential elections.
Democrats have accused Moscow of meddling in the elections to ensure Trump's victory, a charge that Russia has denied.
After a lot of protests, Senior Counsel Robert Mueller was asked to look into "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the 2016 campaign of Trump".
The redacted version of the report based on Mueller's 22-month investigation was released last month by Attorney General William Barr.
Barr told that report found no evidence that US President Donald Trump's campaign team "conspired or coordinated" with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election.
