A Florida man, Zohar Pinhasi, has been indicted on federal charges for defrauding clients of his ransomware data recovery firm. Pinhasi, who used the alias Zack Green, was the subject of a 2019 ProPublica investigation. The Justice Department alleges that Pinhasi falsely claimed to recover encrypted files without paying hackers. In reality, he paid the ransoms and then charged victims a significantly higher fee. This mirrors the findings of ProPublica's 2019 report, which detailed how Pinhasi's firm, MonsterCloud, misled clients. Prosecutors stated that Pinhasi re-victimized clients while extracting a hefty profit. In 2019, Pinhasi described his recovery methods as a "trade secret." Investigators found that Pinhasi charged clients over $19 million and paid over $8 million in ransom payments. One client paid $150,000 after Pinhasi made an $8,200 ransom payment. If convicted, Pinhasi faces up to 20 years in prison. He previously promoted MonsterCloud's ties to law enforcement to bolster its credibility.