The US Justice Department said on 29 October 2026 that a federal district court in the Eastern District of Virginia sentenced Ahmad Umar Agha, also known as Th3Pr0, to 42 months in prison for his central role in a hacking conspiracy organised and led by members of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's inner circle, including the commander of Syria's General Intelligence Directorate, from as early as 24 August 2011 to 31 January 2024.

According to the department, Agha hacked about 47 Western media entities, businesses, NGOs and US and allied government entities to spread the former Syrian government's propaganda; the conspiracy also collected intelligence for that government and tried to cause US service members to refuse duty.

The department says Agha's hack of a news agency's Twitter account let him post on 23 April 2013 a false claim that President Obama was injured in two explosions at the White House, causing a temporary $136 billion flash crash in the value of Dow stocks, and that he redirected visitors to the US Marine Corps recruitment website, through the company hosting it, to an image urging Marines to refuse orders; about 3,500 visitors saw it. Court filings cited by the department say one victim company lost about $35,000 a day for roughly six months and one NGO lost $480,000 in total.

Agha and co-conspirator Firas Dardar were charged by complaint in June 2014 and indicted in May 2018; the department says Dardar remains a fugitive. The FBI Washington Field Office investigated. (source: US Department of Justice)

The Record reports that Agha was taken into US custody last year and that the department has not given details of his arrest. (source: The Record)