World

How the AP reported that someone with access to Bernie Moreno's email created adult website profile

Published

2 years ago

March 14, 2024

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Associated Press reported Thursday that someone with access to a work email account for Ohio Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno created a profile in late 2008 on an adult website, seeking casual sexual encounters with men.

The story relied on records from a number of publicly available sources of information, including a leaked 2016 database from the website Adult Friend Finder, current records the site makes available online about past and present profiles, property records and business filings, as well as archived versions of websites for Adult Friend Finder and businesses that Moreno once owned.

The AP could not definitively confirm whether the profile was created by Moreno himself.

Questions about the profile have circulated in GOP circles for the past month. On Thursday evening, two days after the AP first asked Moreno’s campaign about the account, the candidate’s lawyer said a former intern created the account as a prank. The lawyer provided a statement from the intern, Dan Ricci, who said he created the account as “part of a juvenile prank.”

“I am thoroughly embarrassed by an aborted prank I pulled on my friend, and former boss, Bernie Moreno, nearly two decades ago,” Ricci said. The AP couldn’t independently confirm Ricci’s statement and he didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Ricci donated $6,599 to Moreno’s campaign last year, according to campaign finance records.

Moreno’s lawyer, Charles Harder, insisted Moreno “had nothing to do with the AFF account.”

Here’s how AP reported the story:

MASSIVE DATA BREACH

In 2016, the website Adult Friend Finder was the subject of a massive and well-documented data breach that exposed the personal information of millions of users, including a large number of old accounts that appeared to have been previously closed or left dormant. The episode, which was widely reported on at the time, was the second such breach of the website, following a smaller leak that occurred the previous year.

That data remains available online. The AP located the files, downloaded them from a publicly accessible location and matched the contents with previous reporting on the size and nature of the leaked data.

The data included a unique account number, as well as a work email address for Moreno — [email protected] — that was once listed for him on the website of a dealership he owned. It also listed a username, “nardo19672.”

Jake Williams, a prominent cybersecurity researcher and a former National Security Agency offensive hacker, independently confirmed that the email address was included in a copy of the leaked data.

The AP verified that the email address was publicly listed as Moreno’s by using a website called the WayBack Machine, which preserves online data so that it can be retrieved later, even after a site is edited or removed. Moreno’s company page listed the address as belonging to him in 2010, while internet domain registration filings show that one of Moreno’s companies owned the clevelandporcshe.com domain name in 2008, when the account was created.

In order to complete the creation of an account on Adult Friend Finder and successfully log in at the time, a user would need access to the email address they used to establish it, according to an archived copy of the site from 2008. The reason, the company explained, is because that’s where an account password needed to log in would be sent.

“Adult Friend Finder only requires a valid email address in order to become a member of this site, as you will not be able to obtain your password without one,” the company stated on its website in 2008.

Data obtained by the AP shows that the account was authenticated by someone with access to Moreno’s work email address roughly two minutes after it was created.

‘LOOKING FOR YOUNG GUYS TO HAVE FUN WITH’

The AP used the unique account number obtained from the leaked data to retrieve additional information for the online profile from a publicly accessible data portal, called an API, on Adult Friend Finder’s website. It showed that the account was created in late 2008 and used for roughly six hours.

Beyond the work email, geolocation data indicates that the account was set up for use in a part of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where property records show Moreno’s parents owned a home at the time. The account’s username — nardo19672 — appears to be a reference to Moreno’s full first name, Bernardo, as well as the year and month of his birth in February 1967.

And the profile itself, which remains viewable online, lists Moreno’s correct birthdate.

Metadata obtained from Adult Friend Finder indicates the profile creator was interested in meeting “Men for 1-on-1 sex,” stated they would “prefer not to say” what their marital status was, and declined to reveal their sexual orientation.

“Hi, looking for young guys to have fun with while traveling,” reads a caption on the photo-less profile.

Cyber Security experts say that, in all likelihood, the account had been closed but the company still retained the data and made it publicly searchable. The beginning of his username in the leaked data contained the designation “rm_,” which is a common flag for programmers to indicate that an account has been removed or closed.

But as was often the case before new rules protecting personal information went into effect, websites often did not truly delete the data.

“It’s very common that they would hold on to those accounts,” said Williams, who said a similar phenomenon occurred when data was leaked from the website Ashley Madison, which catered to married individuals seeking affairs. “We had a lot of people who said: ‘How do they have this? I deleted this years ago.’ The answer is: Your stuff is not really deleted.”

___

Associated Press data journalist Larry Fenn contributed to this report.

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World

Investors brace for a bigger backlash from Middle East war

Published

4 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Investors brace for a bigger backlash from Middle East war

From being just a fringe risk, conflict in the Middle East has become a top worry for investors unsettled by the prospect of a power struggle in Iran and a protracted regional war, with ramifications for everything from global trade to inflation.

World

Tel Aviv analyst shelters from 30 missile sirens in 48 hours, says Iran ‘won’t recover’

Published

5 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Tel Aviv analyst shelters from 30 missile sirens in 48 hours, says Iran ‘won’t recover’

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The past 48 hours in Tel Aviv have been unlike anything seen before, a leading security analyst has said, as sirens blared amid missile threats following Operation Epic Fury and U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran.

“We are facing a biblical event — nothing less,” Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies and the Misgav Institute, told Fox News Digital, speaking from his shelter in the city.

Like many Israelis, Michael said he had spent hours in reinforced rooms during the ongoing barrage, adding that he was “very experienced in this.”

“But this all requires time and determination, and I do hope that Trump will also have them both,” he said, speaking shortly after the president released a video message stating that the military operation would continue “until all of our objectives are achieved.”

Explosions from projectile interceptions by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system over Tel Aviv. (JACK GUEZ / AFP via Getty Images)

“Trump is the only one who can make the change — and that change will impact the entire region and the international order for years to come,” Michael added.

As of Sunday, Tel Aviv remained under a state of emergency following Iranian missile attacks that caused casualties and widespread damage.

According to The Associated Press, Iranian missile and drone strikes have killed approximately 11 Israeli civilians and wounded dozens more in retaliation for the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran.

Shrapnel from missile impacts damaged at least 40 buildings in Tel Aviv, and authorities reported at least one death in the area from falling debris.

The Philippine Embassy in Israel confirmed the death of a Filipino national after a missile strike hit Tel Aviv on Saturday.

TOMAHAWKS, B-2 STEALTH BOMBERS AND ATTACK DRONES POUND OVER 1,000 IRANIAN TARGETS IN 24-HOUR BLITZ

People take shelter as Iran launched missiles and drones towards Israel following the US-Israeli attacks. ( Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“We enter our shelter once the siren is heard and stay there until the Home Front Command announces that we can leave,” Michael said.

“Usually, it is about 20 to 30 minutes — unless there are further sirens during our stay. Since yesterday morning, it has happened around 30 times.”

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog also visited an impact site in Tel Aviv Sunday, delivering a message of resilience.

“The people of Israel and the people of Iran can live in peace. The region can live in peace. But what undermines peace time and again is terror instigated by this Iranian regime,” Herzog said.

EXILED IRANIAN CROWN PRINCE SAYS US STRIKES MARK ‘BEGINNING OF THE VERY END’ FOR REGIME

Israeli emergency service officer walks past building debris at the scene of a Iranian missile attack. (Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP via Getty Images)

Following the reported killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and roughly 40 senior Iranian officials, Iran formed a provisional leadership council.

Iran named Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, President Masoud Pezeshkian and Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i to lead roles.

“The Supreme Leader did not complete the necessary groundwork regarding his own succession,” Michael added.

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“Pezeshkian will face very troubling challenges due to their heavy losses, severe disruptions to control and command systems, and the massive bombing and attacks across Iran, including Tehran,” he said.

“Even if this regime doesn’t collapse, it will never be able to reconstitute itself, recover or return to its previous position,” Michael added.

Emma Bussey is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Before joining Fox, she worked at The Telegraph with the U.S. overnight team, across desks including foreign, politics, news, sport and culture.

World

Israel FM says Europe too divided, slams Spanish PM

Published

7 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Israel FM says Europe too divided, slams Spanish PM

Israeli minister Gideon Sa’ar said Europe “does not have unified position” on what role it should play in Iran as European ministers sought to establish a joint approach Sunday.

As Israel and the United States conducted a joint military strike on Iran, leading to the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Europe was kept on the sidelines.

EU member states did not participate in the operation and, in some cases, they were not informed prior as it is customary among strategic allies.

Asked whether Israel sought to keep Europe on the margins, Sa’ar said internal divisions within EU member states had kept them out of critical exchanges of operational details, unlike the United States, which the minister described as his country’s greatest ally.

“In Europe, you have all kinds of approaches,” he told Euronews. “You have countries like the Czech Republic which is strongly supporting this operation and then you have Spain, which is standing with all the tyrants of the world.”

On Saturday, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez was among the most critical voices in Europe, suggesting the US-Israeli strikes on Iran risk plunging the region into total war.

“We reject the unilateral military action of the United States and Israel, which represents an escalation and contributes to a more uncertain and hostile international order,” Sánchez said Saturday. The Spanish PM reiterated that message on Sunday.

“We urge for de-escalation and call to respect international law in all conflicts,” Sánchez added. “You can be against a heinous regime, like the Iranian regime, while also rejecting a military intervention that is unjustified, dangerous and outside of international law.”

Sa’aar said Israel considers the operation “fully justified” citing the right to self-defense from a regime that “has called for the destruction of Israel” and lashed at the Spanish prime minister for sending an “anti-Israeli, anti-American message.”

“Read the statement, they are standing with Iran!” he added.

When asked if any of his European counterparts had manifested an interest in joining the military operation or provide support on the ground, Sa’ar said he held multiple exchanges with European ministers over the weekend and suggested that “if others want to join, they will know have to convey the message.”

On Sunday, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen appeared to back regime change in Iran in line with Israel and the US, saying that the “risk of further escalation is real. This is why a credible transition in Iran is urgently needed” in comments on Sunday.

Sa’ar told Euronews said the strategic strikes and the elimination of Khamenei alongside top regime commanders could “create the conditions to weaken the regime enough to allow the Iranians to take their future into their own hands”.

“The future leadership of Iran should be determined by the Iranian people through free elections. Our only requirement is that whoever comes to power in Iran must not pursue the destruction of Israel,” he said.

Watch the full interview on Euronews from 8pm CET