Elbadawy pleaded guilty in October 2025
Assessment
GovInfoSecurity reported this date on 16 September 2026, framing it as the moment the guilty plea "first came to light publicly." The public docket shows the opposite happened on that date: at his 16 October 2025 arraignment on the First Superseding Indictment, Elbadawy "enters plea of Not Guilty to all counts as charged," per the magistrate judge's own minutes. A binding plea agreement clearly exists by September 2026, since the government's forfeiture application cites it, but the docket entries between 18 October and 4 November 2025 that would show when and how his position changed are sealed, so no public record supports "October 2025" as his guilty-plea date.
Where this claim appeared
GovInfoSecurity · 2026-09-16
https://www.govinfosecurity.com/texan-scattered-spider-member-pleads-guilty-to-hack-attacks-a-32842What “False” means
Contradicted by primary sources. Reserved for claims checked directly against the authoritative record — an advisory that does not exist, a catalogue that does not list the entry, a directive that says something other than what is reported.
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