The U.S. Department of Justice is working to secure a new indictment against a former Deadspin video editor who is accused of illegally accessing a video transmission service used by Fox News Media, The Desk has learned.
On Monday, federal prosecutors in Tampa asked a court to issue a temporary moratorium in Timothy Burke’s ongoing criminal case so they could have time to secure a superseding indictment, almost a year after a magistrate judge dismissed a number of wiretapping charges that were initially imposed by a grand jury.
The new indictment will maintain allegations against Burke that he worked with a Washington man, Marco Gaudino, to scour the Internet for usernames and passwords into systems belonging to and used by sports leagues and media organizations, but won’t include the dismissed wiretapping charges.
Instead, prosecutors said they will seek an indictment that narrowly charges Burke under the federal Wiretap Act, which will eliminate claims that Burke’s theft of certain Fox News clips fit under a “very broad definition of an electronic communication.”
Through his attorneys, Burke admits using a username and password found on the Internet to access a service, which The Desk identified as LiveU, where unencrypted video transmission of Fox News programming were located. Burke recorded a number of programs, then distributed clips of those recordings to other media outlets. At least one news organization paid him for the material.
But Burke’s attorneys say his activities were not crimes; instead, they were part of a self-assigned journalistic endeavor, where Burke stumbled upon newsworthy material.
The government disagrees, saying Burke used a password that didn’t belong him to access raw video files from a news organization where he was not employed.
Last September, a magistrate judge said wiretapping charges in the original indictment did not align with Burke’s alleged activity, though she declined to dismiss other counts against him, including computer hacking and conspiracy charges.
Prosecutors sought to have the wiretapping charges reinstated, but were unable to secure a sign-off from the Office of General Counsel, according to court records reviewed by The Desk. Last week, the Justice Department moved to dismiss the appeal against Burke, which allows the broader criminal case to resume.
Burke faces numerous years in federal prison if he convicted of any charge, though a federal judge will sentence him based on a number of factors, including any prior criminal history. Gaudino, the man who worked with Burke to locate passwords online, reached a plea deal with prosecutors and is expected to testify against him at trial.
Burke rose to prominence in the online journalism world in the mid 2010s, after he helped expose a catfishing scheme against former National Football League linebacker-turned-broadcaster Manti Te’o. While at Deadspin, he also assembled a video that showed news anchors at local TV stations owned by Sinclair, Inc. reading from the same script.
Burke left the journalism world to launch his own political consulting firm in 2019, though he updated his social media profiles to declare himself a journalist after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided the home he shares with his wife, Tampa City Council Member Lynn Hurtak, in 2023. (Hurtak was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year.)
A status conference in Burke’s criminal case is scheduled for November.
