A Florida journalist who was criminally charged this year with breaking into online systems used by Fox News and other organizations is now scheduled to go to trial in January, The Desk has learned.
Timothy Burke was originally scheduled to go to trial this month after being charged with more than a dozen criminal counts earlier this year, but a federal judge overseeing the case has agreed to move the trial date to January 2025, according to people familiar with the matter and court records reviewed by The Desk.
The case centers around Burke’s use of compromised account credentials that allowed him to access web servers and at least one online video transmission service used by sports leagues, television broadcasters and news organizations. He allegedly conspired with Marco Gaudino of Washington to find passwords online, then access the servers and systems without authorization.
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Gaudino was arrested earlier this year. He reached a plea deal with prosecutors in April and has been cooperating in the case. His sentencing was scheduled for November, but has been delayed to February 2025.
Prosecutors say Burke used a password provided by Gaudnio to access a cloud-based video transmission service, which The Desk has identified as LiveU. From there, Burke was able to log in to a product called LiveU Matric, where he obtained web addresses of live streams that showed raw transmissions between news organizations.
On several occasions, Burke was able to watch live transmissions of Fox News programming, and he recorded several clips associated with former host Tucker Carlson’s show. He later leaked the clips to Vice News and the watchdog organization Media Matters for America.
In one clip, Carlson is heard disparaging Fox Nation, the Fox News Media-owned streaming service that he contributed to until his firing last year. Another segment showed Carlson interviewing rapper Kanye “Ye” West, during which the musician makes anti-Semitic remarks. None of the footage obtained and leaked by Burke aired on the Fox News Channel.
Burke does not deny being the source of the Fox News clips. Through his attorneys, he disputes committing any crime, saying the transmission feeds were unencrypted and characterizing his actions as acts of journalism.
Prosecutors say otherwise. In court filings, they say Burke would not have been able to watch the Fox News feeds had he not first used a password to access a protected web page.
Last year, agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Marshals Service executed a search warrant on Burke’s home, which he shares with his wife, a city council member. He was arrested in February on more than a dozen criminal counts, ranging from conspiracy to unauthorized access to protected computer systems.
Much of the activity is alleged to have taken place in a backyard structure, where Burke had numerous computers, servers, hard drives and video equipment that agents seized. Some of those devices have since been returned to Burke, but most of them are still being scrutinized by law enforcement investigators, which is a major reason for the delay in the case, two sources said.
Burke lives in Tampa Bay with his wife, a city council member. Their home is in the direct patch of Hurricane Milton, which intensified into a Category 5 storm on Monday. Local authorities have issued evacuation orders for the city and nearby areas. It isn’t clear if Burke is affected by those orders; his social media feed was filled with his commentary on politics and sports when The Desk reviewed it Monday afternoon.
