The 29-year-old could have stolen unpublished, previously unpublished writings, disguising his identity and pretending to be a worker in the publishing world. Thus, Bernardini, an employee of Simon & Schuster, was charged remote scamWhich carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, e Aggravated identity theft.
The news of his arrest was received by Damien Williams, US attorney for the Southern District of New York. Bernardini allegedly impersonated individuals in the publishing industry to ensure that the authors, Including a Pulitzer Prize WinnerThey sent him manuscripts before publishing them for their benefit,” Williams said. Among the writers targeted by the 29-year-old are Margaret Atwood and Ethan Hawke.
for years, the publishing industry was the victim of an international phishing scheme in which someone with obvious inside knowledge pretended to be a publisher or agent, created a fake email account, and attempted to trick authors and publishers into sending unpublished scripts.
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