Oneida man gets three-month prison sentence for plot to extort B&W Y-12

 

A 25-year-old Scott County man was sentenced to serve three months in prison on Monday after he pleaded guilty in July to charges that he tried to extort Babcock and Wilcox Y-12 LLC, the former managing and operating contractor at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

Adam Winters, 25, of Oneida received the sentence in U.S. District Court in Knoxville on Monday, U.S. Attorney William C. Killian said in a press release. After he is released from prison, Winters will be supervised for one year by U.S. Probation.

Killian said Winters, who had appeared on the television reality show “The Millionaire Matchmaker” in February, pleaded guilty in July to transmitting communications containing threats to injure the reputation of B&W Y-12 in interstate and foreign commerce, with intent to extort money and other things of value from the corporation. Winters admitted that he emailed Babcock and Wilcox and attempted to email the vice president of the United States regarding copies of slides that he possessed that contained information he believed would injure the reputation of Babcock and Wilcox. That May 8 email reportedly referred to slides of evidence from nuclear testing.

Following the email, Winters used the Internet and telephone, both of which are transmitted in interstate or foreign commerce, and communicated his threat to injure their reputation through the use of these slides, Killian said. After making these threats, Winters met with undercover law enforcement agents on May 23 to exchange the slides for $2.5 million that he had demanded from Babcock and Wilcox during his extortion attempt, the press release said. During this exchange meeting, law enforcement officers revealed their identity and arrested him.

Winters had faced up to two years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, up to one year of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brooklyn Sawyers represented the United States.

More information will be added as it becomes available.