TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Tim Burke, a journalist and husband of Tampa city councilmember Lynn Hurtak, was arrested Thursday in a case connected to alleged computer hacks at Fox News.
He was indicted on several federal charges alleging he participated in a conspiracy to access multiple computer systems and steal information.
Burke, 45, who owns the media company, Burke Communications, and an unnamed coconspirator are accused of unlawfully accessing servers belonging to multiple companies and transferring their protected information, according to a federal indictment unsealed Thursday.
This comes after the FBI raided Burke and Hurtak’s home in Seminole Heights in May 2023. Hurtak said in a statement at the time that it was related to Burke’s “work as a journalist.” She did not provide additional details.
An appeal filed by Burke’s attorney in December said the case “apparently originated with a complaint by Fox News” after unaired footage of a Tucker Carlson interview with Kanye West leaked to multiple news sites. The clips, posted to Media Matters and Vice News, included West making antisemitic statements, peddling various conspiracy theories and describing his delusions of grandeur.
Vice also published a video of the Fox News host making “a series of sexist and misogynistic remarks to members of his staff,” according to the appeal filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
In May, the Department of Justice (DOJ) informed Media Matters and Fox News they were opening an investigation into their broadcasts, but said they are not the “targets” of that investigation. The DOJ alleged Burke obtained the raw footage of the interview being recorded as it was transmitted on the server and saved it to his devices, according to court documents.
Burke’s attorneys claim he was working as an investigative journalist and “‘hacked’ no website, ‘stole’ no credentials and violated no terms of service,” because the feeds and login credentials were accessible to the public.
“He merely found something newsworthy on a publicly accessible site,” the appeal stated.
Burke is charged in federal court 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.
According to the indictment, the affected companies include New York 1, a broadcast television station in New York City, National Sports League, a New York-based professional sports league, and StreamCo, a U.S.-based online media streaming company. Burke and the coconspirator are accused of accessing the networks of two companies that were using StreamCo devices.
The conspiracy, which began in February 2022 and continued until the FBI raid, was coordinated through Twitter direct messages and Google accounts, according to the indictment. Federal prosecutors allege the pair illegally acquired sign-in credentials and “repeatedly” accessed protected computers to “scour” for valuable information.
Burke is alleged to have gone to great lengths to hide his online activity, which included re-recording the intercepted media onto another device and altering its metadata. The Fox News interview clips posted to Media Matters and Vice appear to have been recorded off of a monitor using a camera.
Burke appeared at federal court in Tampa on Thursday, accompanied by Councilmember Hurtak and his attorney, Michael Maddux. Hurtak provided the following statement when reached for comment:
I am confident in my husband’s innocence, and I support him completely. I will not be making additional statements regarding this matter.
Tampa City Councilmember Lynn Hurtak
Speaking to WFLA’s Jeff Patterson outside the courthouse, Maddux strongly denied the charges against Burke and maintained that the case is about journalism, rather than computer hacking.
Burke was released from custody after the hearing and is due back in court for a status hearing in the next few weeks.
If convicted on all charges, he faces up to 62 years in federal prison. The DOJ is also seeking a ruling that would require Burke to forfeit “a website domain and 20 computer-related devices” involved in the alleged hacking, as well as $1,500 – equal to the profit that federal prosecutors claim Burke made through his offenses.
