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Two members of the cybercriminal group ViLE were sentenced in federal court in Brooklyn in 2025 for using a stolen law-enforcement password to access a nonpublic federal portal, take sensitive information, and threaten victims with doxing and extortion. Sagar Steven Singh received 27 months in prison; Nicholas Ceraolo received 25 months.
Who hacked the law-enforcement database?
The defendants were Sagar Steven Singh, also known as “Weep,” and Nicholas Ceraolo, who used the aliases “Convict,” “Anon,” and “Ominous.” The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) says both were members of ViLE, a cybercriminal group. Their prison sentences covered conspiracy to commit computer intrusion and aggravated identity theft.
| Defendant | Known aliases | Prison sentence | Sentence date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sagar Steven Singh | “Weep” | 27 months | June 4, 2025 |
| Nicholas Ceraolo | “Convict,” “Anon,” and “Ominous” | 25 months | May 30, 2025 |
The DOJ announced Singh’s sentence on June 4, 2025, and Ceraolo’s guilty plea on June 17, 2024. The defendants pleaded guilty separately: Ceraolo on May 30, 2024, and Singh on June 17, 2024. The 2024 DOJ release described a sentencing range of two to seven years; the sentences ultimately imposed were 27 and 25 months.
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According to the DOJ, the men used a stolen password belonging to a law-enforcement officer to enter a nonpublic federal portal used to share intelligence with state and local agencies. The portal held detailed, nonpublic records about narcotics and currency seizures, along with law-enforcement intelligence reports.
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The DOJ releases do not identify the agency that operated the portal. BleepingComputer reported on June 5, 2025, that investigative journalist Brian Krebs identified it as a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) portal containing information from 16 federal databases. That agency identification and database count are secondary reporting, not details confirmed in the DOJ release. See BleepingComputer’s report.
What did the hackers do with the information?
ViLE members obtained personal information, including Social Security numbers, and threatened to post it on a public website unless victims paid to have the information removed or kept offline. In one example described by the DOJ, Singh sent a victim their Social Security number, driver’s-license number, home address, and other personal details. He threatened the victim’s family and demanded the victim’s Instagram credentials and the proceeds from selling the accounts.
What “doxing” means in this case
Doxing is the exposure or threatened exposure of someone’s private identifying information. Here, the threat was not simply that the information might be made public: the defendants used the prospect of publishing it as leverage to seek money or account access.
How long did the ViLE hackers go to prison?
Singh was sentenced to 27 months and Ceraolo to 25 months. The DOJ says the sentences addressed the same two offenses—conspiracy to commit computer intrusion and aggravated identity theft—but the releases do not explain why the sentences differed by two months.
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Were other ViLE members sentenced too?
The 2025 DOJ announcement concerns Singh and Ceraolo. The 2024 release referred to additional co-conspirators and ongoing investigative work, but that does not establish that every ViLE member was sentenced in this case.
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