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BreachForums shutdown following administrator arrest

March 2023, Fraud and stolen data
Led by Federal Bureau of Investigation

Verified core entry, last reviewed August 21, 2026

What was taken down?

Forum taken offline by a remaining staff member citing law-enforcement access to infrastructure; administrator's devices and accounts seized.[1][3]

See what happened

What happened to the people?

Officials reported 1 charged, 1 apprehended, and 1 convicted.
1 charged, 1 apprehended, and 1 convicted named in the public record.
Group accounted for: Partial

See people and accountability

Did it stay down?

After this action the service returned with some of the same operators, first seen June 2023. The replacement was itself seized in a later action. Medium confidence in the link between the two.

See what happened afterward

FBI arrested BreachForums administrator Conor Brian Fitzpatrick; the forum was shut down shortly afterward amid indications that law enforcement had access to backend infrastructure.[1][3]

Announced March 24, 2023.

Date
March 21 to March 29, 2023
Target
BreachForums, clearnet criminal forum
Activity
Fraud and stolen data
Operational lead
FBI
Partners
USAO-EDVA[1]
Jurisdiction
United States
Outcome
Forum taken offline by a remaining staff member citing law-enforcement access to infrastructure; administrator's devices and accounts seized.
Status
Completed
Legal mechanism
US arrest warrant and criminal complaint (Eastern District of Virginia)
Group accounted for
Partial

1
charged
1
apprehended
1
convicted

Named in the public record: 1 charged, 1 apprehended, and 1 convicted.

Figures count individuals named in charging documents and official statements, each person once per outcome. People alleged to be involved but not publicly identified are not counted.

Reported and named. Officials reported 1 charged, 1 apprehended, and 1 convicted. 1 charged, 1 apprehended, and 1 convicted named in the public record. The two figures come from different places and are never added together. Officials publish a headline total, and this index counts only the individuals it can name from the cited record.
Person Role Current public status
Founder and administrator of BreachForums ArrestedChargedPleaded guiltySentenced
Charging authority
United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia
Main charges
Conspiracy to commit access device fraud
Case number
Not established in the public record
Arresting authority
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Arrest location
Peekskill, New York, NY, United States
Extradition status
Not established in the public record
Conviction or plea
Pleaded guilty, July 11, 2023
Sentence
Resentenced 2025-09-16 to 36 months custody plus 20 years supervised release (Count 3), after Fourth Circuit vacated the original time-served sentence
Segment
Core operator
Sources
[1][3][4]
Full record
Everything indexed for Conor Brian Fitzpatrick

Conor Brian Fitzpatrick

Founder and administrator of BreachForums. Current public status: Arrested, Charged, Pleaded guilty, and Sentenced.

Charging authority
United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia
Main charges
Conspiracy to commit access device fraud
Case number
Not established in the public record
Arresting authority
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Arrest location
Peekskill, New York, NY, United States
Extradition status
Not established in the public record
Conviction or plea
Pleaded guilty, July 11, 2023
Sentence
Resentenced 2025-09-16 to 36 months custody plus 20 years supervised release (Count 3), after Fourth Circuit vacated the original time-served sentence
Segment
Core operator
Sources
[1][3][4]
Full record
Everything indexed for Conor Brian Fitzpatrick

Rows expand to show charging authority, case identifiers, custody status, and sources.

Group accounted for: Partial

Only the lead administrator was apprehended. Co-administrators immediately reconstituted the forum, demonstrating that the core group was not accounted for.

Administrator plus at least one co-administrator who continued operating the brand.

See the organizations and roles behind this action

Fitzpatrick pleaded guilty and was sentenced; sentence later revisited on appeal.[1][3]

  1. June 2023

    BreachForums under ShinyHunters and Baphomet. Partial operator continuity. Confidence: Medium. Seized in a later action.[2][3]

    Reconstituted by individuals who had served as staff on the prior iteration, retaining brand, database, and community.

    breachforums[.]st

    Later action: BreachForums domain seizure

June 2023

BreachForums under ShinyHunters and Baphomet. Partial operator continuity. Confidence: Medium. Seized in a later action.[2][3]

Reconstituted by individuals who had served as staff on the prior iteration, retaining brand, database, and community.

breachforums[.]st

Later action: BreachForums domain seizure

Return class A. The class is a research grading carried in the source dataset and its scale is not published, so this page relies on the relationship and confidence values instead. How this index handles it.

Numbered markers throughout this entry link to the source that supports the claim beside them.

Official sources

  1. [1]
    United States v. Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, criminal complaint and affidavit

    United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, March 16, 2023, Source grade P0

    Arrest, charge, and identification of the BreachForums administrator

    No address recorded for this source. Publisher, title, and date are given so it can be retrieved from the publisher.

  2. [2]
    FBI seizure notice and statement regarding BreachForums

    Federal Bureau of Investigation, May 15, 2024, Source grade P1

    Domain and Telegram channel seizure

    No address recorded for this source. Publisher, title, and date are given so it can be retrieved from the publisher.

Additional reporting and technical analysis

  1. [3]
    Specialist reporting on the BreachForums shutdown and later sentencing

    Established specialist cybersecurity publication, March 29, 2023, Source grade S2

    Forum shutdown decision, staff statements, sentencing and resentencing history

    No address recorded for this source. Publisher, title, and date are given so it can be retrieved from the publisher.

  2. [4]
    BreachForums hacking forum admin resentenced to three years in prison

    BleepingComputer, September 16, 2025, Source grade S1

    Fourth Circuit vacatur of the original sentence and Fitzpatrick's 2025-09-16 resentencing to 36 months custody plus 20 years supervised release.

    No address recorded for this source. Publisher, title, and date are given so it can be retrieved from the publisher.

Coverage note.
  • This record is a probable edge case for the infrastructure test. The arrest is well documented; the extent of direct law-enforcement control over forum infrastructure at this stage rests substantially on a staff member's public statement rather than an official seizure notice.
  • The clearly documented infrastructure seizures of this brand are the 2024 and 2025 actions, recorded separately.