Former Media Producer Sentenced for Extortion and Obstruction of Justice

WASHINGTON – A former media producer was sentenced today to four years and three months in prison for extortion and obstruction of justice related to his involvement in a scheme to obtain money in exchange for preventing the release of chat messages involving senior officials in the government of Puerto Rico.

According to court documents, in June 2019, Sixto Jorge Díaz Colón, 54, of San Juan, attempted to extort a public official in the government of Puerto Rico. Díaz Colón attempted to secure a $300,000 payment and other things of value from the official in exchange for the assurance that a third-party would not publicly disclose certain messages containing damaging information about various public officials in the government. When approached by the FBI in July 2019, Díaz Colón deleted messages containing information about his involvement in the scheme before surrendering his cellular telephone to the authorities.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow for the District of Puerto Rico, Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, and Special Agent in Charge Joseph Gonzalez of the FBI San Juan Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI San Juan Field Office investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Michael N. Lang of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section (PIN) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Myriam Fernández-González for the District of Puerto Rico prosecuted the case. Former PIN Trial Attorney James Pearce, former Trial Attorney Byron Jones of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Henwood for the District of Puerto Rico provided assistance.

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