Tim Burke’s lawyer says they don’t know alleged co-conspirator’s name
A lawyer for Tampa media consultant Tim Burke says his client doesn’t know the identity of the person that federal officials say he conspired with to access video from Fox News and other organizations.
Federal prosecutors have charged Burke, 45, with 14 federal crimes, including conspiracy, after they say he used “compromised credentials” to access and save protected commercial broadcast video streams, then disseminate specific clips after taking steps to mask how they were obtained.
The indictment says Burke worked with an unnamed person, and identified them by their partial username on X (formerly known as Twitter) as “@E---es.” The indictment said the alleged co-conspirator lived in Washington, and prosecutor Jay Trezevant said Thursday in court that Burke knew who the person was.
But Burke’s attorney Mark Rasch said Friday that Burke doesn’t know the true identity of that person, saying that Burke only knew the username.
Rasch said the government has not made clear the identities of everyone under investigation in this case. He said Burke’s legal team hasn’t seen the unsealed affidavit that led to the FBI search of Burke’s house in May.
Rasch is a former cybercrimes prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice who was later involved in the 2009 “Craigslist murder” case in Boston and the Chelsea Manning WikiLeaks case, according to his law firm’s website. Rasch said that the only other times he’s seen the government refuse to unseal an affidavit were in cases when trade secrets would be revealed or when documents are classified for national security purposes.
Rasch maintained Burke’s innocence and said the government is infringing on Burke’s First Amendment rights. He noted that the government is still in possession of electronic devices and computers Burke used for his media business, Burke Communications.
Burke, who has worked as a journalist for outlets like Deadspin and the Daily Beast, has since started his own communications consulting firm and ran his wife’s City Council political campaign.
“Not only have they seized his newsroom, they want to keep the reporter’s notes and reporting materials and they want to do it to prevent the material from being published,” Rasch said. “Prosecutors are using the full power of the federal government to prevent Fox News from being embarrassed.”
Trezevant did not respond to an email and voicemail requesting comment for this story.
The indictment does not name Fox News, but a letter from a Tampa federal prosecutor to the media company, obtained last May by the Tampa Bay Times, described a criminal probe into alleged computer hacks. The Times confirmed with people close to the investigation that it related to the search of Burke’s home.
The indictment charges Burke with one count of conspiracy; six counts of accessing a protected computer without authorization; and seven counts of intercepting or disclosing wire, oral or electronic communications.
If convicted on all counts, Burke could face a maximum of 62 years in prison, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office news release. However, such a severe sentence would only result if Burke were convicted of all charges against him and if a judge decided to impose consecutive maximum penalties for each charge, an unlikely outcome.
If Burke is convicted of any crimes, a judge would consider his background, his lack of prior trouble with the law, and the relative harm to the community. Federal sentencing guidelines would also give the judge a road map to a sentence based on those imposed in similar cases. In a case that does not involve violent crime, it would be unlikely that the sentence would be especially severe.
The Burke case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, who was appointed in 2020 by then-President Donald Trump. In 2022, she made headlines for her decision to strike down the federal mask mandate for airplanes and other mass transit. Mizelle was nominated for her position eight years after passing the bar; during her nomination process, a committee of the American Bar Association raised concerns about her qualification because of a lack of experience.
