LI County employee allegedly installed machines to mine crypto, costing taxpayers thousands of dollars – NBC New York

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An employee cost a New York county at least $ 6,000 in electric bills by secretly installing dozens of machines at his workplace as part of a cryptocurrency scheme, authorities said on Wednesday, announcing charges against him.

Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini said Christopher Naples, who worked in the county clerk’s office as supervisor of IT operations, is charged with charges including public bribery, robbery and computer intrusion.

An email requesting comment was sent to the Naples lawyer. He appeared in court on Wednesday and was released on his own recognizance.

Sini said Naples, 42, who had worked for the county since 2000, had 46 devices installed throughout central county in Riverhead, New York, in places like an unused electrical wall panel or under floors. At least some of the devices had been in place since February.

Naples, of Mattituck, New York, is accused of using the devices to mine Bitcoin and other types of cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency units are created by computers solving complex mathematical equations, and the process can result in high electricity consumption and high cooling costs.

Mining cryptocurrency requires a huge amount of resources, and miners must figure out how to cover all those electricity and cooling costs, Sini said in a statement announcing the arrest. Naples has found a way to do it; unfortunately, it was on the backs of the taxpayers. “

Naples faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the highest count against him.

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