In September 2022, DataBreaches reported that Australian national David Kee Crees was going to be extradited from Australia to the U.S. to stand trial on hacking charges. Crees, now 25, has used a number of aliases. DataBreaches had first known him back when he was calling himself “Abdilo,” but he was also known as “DR32,” “Notavirus,” “Surivaton,” and “Grey Hat Mafia’s Bitch.”
DataBreaches expected that the extradition would be completed within 30 days of the Adelaide Magistrate Court’s order. But Australian law gives their attorney general the right to review the situation even after a court has ordered extradition. DataBreaches does not know why Australia’s Attorney General chose to hang on to him for a year and a half, but Crees finally arrived on U.S. soil in February. By then, he had spent two years in detention in Australia awaiting his extradition trial there and then extradition.
Crees made his first appearance in federal court in Denver, Colorado on February 8, 2024. He is being represented by Richard L. Tegtmeier of Sherman & Howard. In a subsequent hearing on February 13, the government sought his detention while awaiting trial, and the defense did not object. Crees is being detained at FCI-Englewood, a low-security federal correctional institution with an adjacent minimum-security satellite camp and a detention center. The terms of his detention are not publicly available on the docket. DataBreaches emailed the prison to ask if he will have access to the internet while in detention awaiting trial. In January 2023, The Advertiser reported that the microchips in his hands had caused security problems within the Australian prison that resulted in his being detained in a high-security prison there. DataBreaches does not know whether he still has microchips in his hands.
As previously reported, Crees was indicted in December 2021 on a 22-count indictment:
| Counts | Description |
| Counts 1-7 | Fraud and related activity in connection with computers, and aiding and abetting, in violation of Title 18, United States Code (U.S.C.), Sections 1030(a)(2)(C), 1030(b), 1030(c)(2)(B)(i), and 2, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each count; |
| Counts 8-14 | Fraud and related activity in connection with computers, and aiding and abetting, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sections 1030(a)(5)(A), 1030(b), 1030( c )( 4)(A)(i)(I),20 and 2, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each count; |
| Count 15 | Money laundering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 1956(a)(I)(B)(i), which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison; |
| Count 16 | Fraud and related activity in connection with identification documents, in violation of U.S.C. Sections 1028(a)(7) and 1028(b)(2)(B), which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison; |
| Count 17 | Fraud and related activity in connection with access devices, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sections 1029(a)(2), 1029(b )(1 ), and 1029( c )(1 )(A)(i), which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; and |
| Counts 18-22 | Aggravated identity theft, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 1028A, which carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison for each count, to be served consecutively to any other prison term imposed. |
He was caught, in part, because he sold data to and communicated with an undercover FBI agent. DataBreaches previously reported details of his alleged crimes and interactions with the undercover agent based on filings by the U.S. to the Australian court. Those filings, obtained from the court by DataBreaches, do not appear in the public docket in the U.S.
The indictment in United States of America v. David Kee Crees, 21-cr-00402-DDD, lists seven U.S. victims.
All of the alleged crimes occurred between July 2020 and July 2021. None of the victim entities or businesses appear to be headquartered in Colorado, but the indictment alleges that Crees’s criminal activities involved the personal information of Colorado residents, indicated by their initials.
A seven-day jury trial is scheduled to begin on August 12, 2024, but it would not be surprising if that changes.