Connect with us

News

Ex-Disney Worker Who Hacked Menus Gets 3 Years in Prison

Published

on

Ex-Disney Worker Who Hacked Menus Gets 3 Years in Prison

A former employee of Walt Disney World who hacked into menus used by its restaurants and edited them — changing prices, adding profanity and altering listed allergens — was sentenced to three years in prison by a federal judge in Florida this week.

None of the changes, including falsified information about food allergens that could have been harmful to visitors, ever appeared before the public, according to court records. The menu alterations were caught and court records show that none of the changes ever reached the printing stage.

The former employee, Michael Scheuer of Winter Garden, Fla., was sentenced on Wednesday in federal court in Orlando, Fla., after pleading guilty in January to one count of computer fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Mr. Scheuer, 40, was ordered to pay restitution of about $620,000 to Disney and $70,000 to the unidentified software company that provides Disney with its menu creation program.

While court documents do not mention Disney World, menus that were entered into evidence in Mr. Scheuer’s case are from the hundreds of restaurants at Walt Disney World in Orlando.

Advertisement

Disney World representatives did not respond to messages seeking comment.

In early June 2024, Mr. Scheuer had returned from paternity leave, court documents show. A few days later, he had an argument with a supervisor about menu creation, according to the documents, and he was told that he would be suspended.

Instead, he was fired for unspecified misconduct, the documents state.

An investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation later revealed that, beginning around that time and over approximately the next three months, there were multiple hacks into servers that hosted the menu creation program.

Those changes included price cuts or hikes of a few dollars, profanities and altering allergens in certain items.

Advertisement

On a drink called the “Giddy-Up” — a blend of vodka, lemonade and iced tea — he lowered the price by $2, according to court records, and took two ounces off a 10-ounce filet mignon. In another instance, “shellfish” was changed to “hellfish.”

On a couple of menus, either the prices or the descriptions of the items disappeared.

He changed a wine region — Golden, Colo. — to the location of a mass shooting, Aurora, Colo. He also edited “Infamous Goose” — high-quality imported wine from New Zealand — to “Infamous Moose.”

More crucially, Mr. Scheuer edited certain menu items, falsely showing that they were safe for people with allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish and milk, according to his plea agreement.

Prosecutors said “the discreet way in which these changes were made was likely by design, specifically to avoid detection.”

Advertisement

But Mr. Scheuer’s lawyer, David Haas, said that his client had only been trying to get the attention of Disney so that it would respond to him.

“He knew the menu changes would be identified in Disney’s extensive menu review process,” Mr. Haas said in a court document.

Disney had indeed noticed, and it had contacted the F.B.I., identifying Mr. Scheuer as a possible suspect. In September, the F.B.I. executed a search warrant at Mr. Scheuer’s home and seized several electronic devices.

The criminal complaint also shows that Mr. Scheuer blocked 14 Disney employees from their company accounts through denial-of-service attacks. Some of the targeted workers were former colleagues involved in his firing, according to court records.

On one occasion, Mr. Scheuer drove to the home of one of the targeted employees shortly before 11 p.m., walked to the front door and gave a thumbs-up to the Ring doorbell camera before leaving, court records show.

Advertisement

Gregory W. Kehoe, the interim U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida, said that Mr. Scheuer’s actions were at least partly attributable to a mental health episode. Prosecutors asked for a 70-month sentence.

Mr. Haas said in an interview on Friday that “Mr. Scheuer remains remorseful and apologetic to his former co-workers,” adding that he was grateful to the judge for imposing only a 36-month sentence.

Sheelagh McNeill contributed research.

News

Video: Behind the Supreme Court’s Push to Expand Presidential Power

Published

on

Video: Behind the Supreme Court’s Push to Expand Presidential Power

new video loaded: Behind the Supreme Court’s Push to Expand Presidential Power

For more than a decade, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has chipped away at Congress’s power to insulate independent agencies from politics. Now, the court has signaled its willingness to expand presidential power once again.

By Ann E. Marimow, Claire Hogan, Stephanie Swart and Pierre Kattar

December 12, 2025

Continue Reading

News

Europe’s rocky relations with Donald Trump

Published

on

Europe’s rocky relations with Donald Trump

Gideon talks to Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s former secretary-general, about Ukraine and Europe’s strategic priorities after recent scathing criticism from US president Donald Trump over its failure to end the war: ‘They talk but they don’t produce.’ Clip: Politico

Free links to read more on this topic:

The White House’s rupture with the western alliance

Trump pushes for ‘free economic zone’ in Donbas, says Zelenskyy

Friedrich Merz offers to host Ukraine talks so deal not done ‘above Europe’s head’

Advertisement

Ukraine’s ‘fortress belt’ that Donald Trump wants to trade for peace

Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts – please listen, rate and subscribe.

Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.

Follow Gideon on Bluesky or X @gideonrachman.bsky.social, @gideonrachman

View our accessibility guide.

Advertisement

Continue Reading

News

Trump announces pardon for Tina Peters, increasing pressure to free her though he can’t erase state charges | CNN Politics

Published

on

Trump announces pardon for Tina Peters, increasing pressure to free her though he can’t erase state charges | CNN Politics

President Donald Trump announced Thursday he is granting Tina Peters a full federal pardon, which is likely to increase the pressure campaign to free the former Colorado clerk from state prison even though he cannot erase her state charges.

“Tina is sitting in a Colorado prison for the ‘crime’ of demanding Honest Elections. Today I am granting Tina a full Pardon for her attempts to expose Voter Fraud in the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election,” the president wrote on Truth Social.

Peters, the former Republican clerk of Mesa, Colorado, was found guilty last year on state charges of participating in a scheme to breach voting systems that hoped to prove Trump’s false claims of mass voter fraud in 2020. She was sentenced to nine years in prison and is serving her sentence at a women’s prison in Pueblo, Colorado.

Peters is currently the only Trump ally in prison for crimes related to the attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. She still believes that election was stolen, her lawyers recently told CNN. Her lawyers have also raised concerns about her physical safety and told a judge that her health is declining behind bars.

Trump’s pardon has no legal impact on her state conviction and incarceration. But the administration has been pressuring Colorado officials to set her free or at least transfer her into federal custody, where she could be moved into a more comfortable facility. The Justice Department even stepped in to support Peters’ unsuccessful attempt to convince a federal judge to release her from prison.

Advertisement

After months of hearings and legal filings, a federal judge in Denver rejected her federal lawsuit seeking release on Monday, concluding that state courts are the proper venue for her to challenger her conviction.

Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis in a statement defended Peters’ conviction. “No President has jurisdiction over state law nor the power to pardon a person for state convictions. This is a matter for the courts to decide, and we will abide by court orders,” he said.

Polis has previously said he won’t pardon Peters as part of any quid-pro-quo deal.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat who is fighting to uphold Peters’ conviction and keep her behind bars, also dismissed the pardon in a statement.

“The idea that a president could pardon someone tried and convicted in state court has no precedent in American law, would be an outrageous departure from what our constitution requires, and will not hold up,” Weiser said.

Advertisement

One of her lawyers sent a letter to Trump earlier this month, making the case for a pardon. Those efforts were successful at securing a symbolic clemency action from Trump, however, only Polis has the power to pardon Peters for her state crimes and set her free.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins contributed to this report.

Continue Reading

Trending