Fans of basic human decency, rejoice: Hunter Moore, the founder of the now-defunct Is Anyone Up? and the so-called “king” of revenge porn, has officially been indicted in United States District Court for the Central District of California, along with an accomplice named Charles Evans. His crimes? Conspiracy to “access a protected computer without authorization to obtain information for private financial gain,” seven counts of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information and seven counts of aggravated identity theft, as well as generally being a stain on the boxer briefs of humanity.
Rumors that Moore was being investigated by the FBI have floated around for years. The indictment is the culmination of a building legal case against Moore, who often gloated about his ability to evade criminal punishment. Below, a brief timeline of Moore’s not-so-illustrious career.
2010: Moore, a high school dropout who once described himself on Twitter as a “professional life ruiner,” founds Is Anyone Up?, a website where disgruntled exes upload naked and sexually explicit photos of their former paramours. Within days, the site gets 20 to 30 submissions per day. Although many of the site’s victims threaten to sue Moore, the site is protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which prevents website owners from being held liable for content other users post.
Feb. 2011: Moore posts naked photos of All Time Low bassist Zack Merrick, who becomes a Twitter trending topic. Moore’s Twitter followers spike, and by Nov. 2011, Is Anyone Up is receiving 30 million page views per month.
Aug. 2011: Moore is stabbed with a pen by one of the site’s victims. He requires medical treatment.
Dec. 2011: Facebook bans Moore for life and blocks anyone who links to the Is Anyone Up? domain.
Apr. 2012: Is Anyone Up? is shut down.
May 2012: The Village Voice runs a series of pieces on Moore, revealing that he is the target of an FBI investigation prompted by the mother of one of Moore’s victims. Later, the newspaper also reveals that many photos on Is Anyone Up? may have been illegally obtained by a hacker named “Gary Jones.” “I will burn down fucking The Village Voice headquarters if you fucking write anything saying I have an FBI investigation,” Moore tells reporter Camille Dodero.
Nov. 2012: Moore announces he’s launching a new site, Huntermoore.tv, that allows people to submit revenge porn as well as their exes’ addresses.
Dec. 2012: Anonymous leads an attack on Moore, hacking Huntermoore.tv. and publishing his personal info. Moore responds by tweeting, “LOLLLLLLLL.”
Mar. 2013: Moore is ordered to pay James McGibney, the founder of Bullyville whom Moore repeatedly harassed on Twitter, more than $250,000 in damages as part of a defamation lawsuit brought against him, after Moore called McGibney a pedophile and threatened to rape his wife. A class action lawsuit prompted by Gibney is already pending against him.
Oct. 2013: The state of California passes a law criminalizing revenge porn. Moore rants about it on YouTube, referring to the state of California as “you fucking retards.”
Jan. 2014: Moore and his alleged accomplice Charles Evens are arrested in the state of California.
@justinbieber I’m comin to bust you out lil nigga
— Hunter Moore (@Huntermoore) January 23, 2014
H/T Time | Photo: Screengrab, YouTube, ABC News