Sentence for BreachForums Admin Overturned; Pompompurin Receives Three Years in Prison
The former administrator of the hacker forum BreachForums, 22-year-old Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, better known by his alias Pompompurin, has been sentenced to three years in prison. The ruling comes after a federal appeals court overturned a 2024 decision that had imposed only 20 years of supervised release.
Background and Arrest
BreachForums was shut down by law enforcement in the spring of 2023, at which time Fitzpatrick was arrested. Authorities also reported gaining access to the forum’s database and subsequently seized both the BreachForums domains and Fitzpatrick’s personal website.
Following his arrest, Fitzpatrick faced numerous charges, including:
- Theft and sale of confidential personal information belonging to “millions of U.S. citizens and hundreds of American and foreign companies, organizations, and government agencies.”
- Conspiracy to commit access device fraud.
- Solicitation of access device fraud.
- Possession of child pornography on one of his devices.
He ultimately pleaded guilty.
Bail and Violations
Despite the seriousness of the charges, Fitzpatrick was initially released on $300,000 bail while awaiting sentencing. His release conditions were later jeopardized:
- In May 2023, he attempted suicide.
- In October 2023, his lawyers requested sentencing delays so that mental health experts could evaluate him.
- He was eventually jailed for violating bail terms by accessing the internet from unmonitored devices and continuing to use VPNs, which were prohibited.
The 2024 Sentence
In January 2024, prosecutors pushed for a 15-year sentence (188 months). The court, however, showed leniency, citing Fitzpatrick’s young age and autism diagnosis. He was sentenced to 20 years of supervised release and just 17 days in prison, time already served.
The terms of supervised release included:
- Two years of home confinement with GPS monitoring.
- Mandatory psychiatric treatment.
- A one-year internet ban with monitoring software installed on any device.
- Periodic polygraph examinations.
- Registration as a sex offender due to his guilty plea on child pornography charges.
Appeals Court Intervention
Prosecutors appealed the 2024 sentence, arguing it was insufficient. In January 2025, a federal appeals court agreed, overturning the decision and sending the case back for review.
New Sentence
This week, Fitzpatrick was resentenced to three years in prison on three counts:
- Conspiracy to commit access device fraud.
- Solicitation of access device fraud.
- Possession of materials related to the sexual abuse of children.
In court, the judge emphasized the scale of BreachForums under Fitzpatrick’s control, calling it “the largest English-language data breach forum in history,” hosting over 14 billion records containing names, birth dates, Social Security numbers, employment details, and health insurance information.
The judge also noted that during the forum’s year of operation, Fitzpatrick acted as an intermediary for illegal transactions, personally earning $698,714 while facilitating widespread financial and reputational harm
