The US Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against a California gold mine hacker who has been accused of stealing millions of dollars from a gold mine in the state.
The Justice Department said on Wednesday that it was filing the lawsuit in California state court.
The lawsuit is based on a 2015 complaint filed by the California Department of Mines and Geology against an unidentified suspect, who is alleged to have hacked into the Gold King Mine in Sonoma County in 2017.
The complaint said the suspect, identified by the federal government as Christopher Ritchie, stole more than $4 million from the mine.
A spokesperson for the California Gold Corporation said Ritchie is no longer with the company.
The Gold King mine is a large copper mine that is used to mine copper and gold.
Gold mines in Sonomas, Sonoma, and Mendocino counties have been compromised by cybercriminals in recent years, according to the California Mining Association.
The mine is one of the biggest gold mines in California, with more than 2.5 million ounces of copper and 8,000 ounces of gold.
The Department of the Interior is currently investigating how the GoldKing mine was breached, and the FBI is also investigating.