Texas elections-monitoring group forced to name source of hacked poll worker data

Though True the Vote’s attorneys had already shared the name of the independent man who purportedly swiped the data with Hoyt, Pamphilis complained at Thursday’s hearing they had yet to give him the man’s name.

Akers all but begged Hoyt not to make him disclose the man’s name: “On behalf of my clients we don’t want to release the name of this individual … due to danger from forces of the Chinese Communist party.”

Hoyt would not budge. “You’re going to give that [name] to counsel today,” the Ronald Reagan appointee said.

True the Vote’s other attorney, Mark Brewer of the Houston firm Brewer and Pritchard, tried another tack.

He argued Konnech had undercut the whole premise of its lawsuit when, in response to True the Vote’s allegations it was careless with poll worker data, it published a statement on its website titled "The Truth About Konnech."

The company stated it has never stored customer data on servers on China and it had “thoroughly investigated True the Vote’s claims and found no evidence whatsoever of any breach of our systems or Konnech data anywhere in the world.”

“Plaintiff’s own statement said the company has never been hacked. … You can’t have a hacking by saying I’ve seen the data,” Brewer said.

Hoyt was not swayed. “Your client [Phillips] is all over the internet saying he got the data,” the judge said.

According to Konnech’s lawsuit, Yu, its CEO, and his family had to leave their home due to threats from True the Vote’s supporters.

But Akers, True the Vote’s co-counsel, said Yu is not alone in that regard. He said Phillips and Engelbrecht have recently received death threats. “She [Engelbrecht] has drones flying over her house,” he added.

Akers told Judge Hoyt, “Among my fears is that you’d think I would play a game.”

“Maybe you’ve been played,” Hoyt replied.

But Akers stuck up for True the Vote. He said he believes the group has legitimate evidence of voter fraud.

“I think I’m a pretty good judge of character,” Akers asserted.

Engelbrecht stars in the documentary “2000 Mules.” Trump hosted its premiere in May at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Engelbrecht alleges in the film that people had stored fraudulent ballots at “stash houses” in Arizona, facilitating illegal voting in the 2020 presidential election, among other conspiratorial claims critics say have been debunked.

Akers finally gave in at the end of Thursday’s 90-minute hearing. He wrote the name of the man responsible for the alleged hack of Konnech’s servers on a notepad and gave it to Pamphilis. At Pamphilis’ urging Akers also said the name out loud but his voice sounded garbled from the gallery.

Pamphilis, of the firm Kasowitz Benson Torres, declined to share the name with reporters after the hearing.

Hoyt agreed to adjudicate Konnech’s motion for a preliminary injunction — which would extend the restrictions on True the Vote sharing the poll worker data — based solely on written pleadings, without hearing witness testimony.

He gave Pamphilis until Oct. 11 to file a response to True the Vote’s motion to deny a preliminary injunction.

Though True the Vote posted a statement on its website following Yu's arrest saying it "is honored to have played a small role in what must have been a wide ranging and complex investigation," a spokesperson for DA Gascón told Votebeat that L.A. County prosecutors had not received any information from True the Vote for the case.

But True the Vote's attorney, Brock Akers, revealed in an October 12 court filing Phillips had in fact testified before the grand jury that indicted Yu.

"Phillips testified before the Grand Jury that indicted Mr. Yu and he continues to be bound by the secrecy of that proceeding which he was sworn to uphold," Akers wrote in a motion for abeyance.

True the Vote wants Judge Hoyt to hold off on issuing any rulings in the case until October 19.

According to the motion, True the Vote has been "reliably informed" Yu's indictment will be unsealed October 14 when he is arraigned in Los Angeles County, which will shed light on why it believes it cannot comply with Hoyt's temporary restraining order mandating it tell Konnech "how, when and by whom Konnech's protected computers were accessed."

"Defendants have been reliably informed by federal law enforcement that compliance with Paragraphs V, VI and VII of the TRO would jeopardize national security and the physical security of the individual named in the last hearing," True the Vote's motion states.

Konnech's counsel named the alleged hacker in an October 11 motion for leave to amend its lawsuit.

True the Vote's filing cites another reason for its abeyance request: "Defendant Phillips’ newly engaged counsel, John C. Kiyonaga of Alexandria, Virginia, will require at least a week adequately to apprise himself of this case so as to enable his effective representation of his client."

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