A Romanian convicted of running an international swatting ring targeting dozens of U.S. lawmakers and government officials will spend four years in federal prison.
Thomasz Szabo, 27, received a 48-month sentence Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). Szabo issued a guilty plea on June 2, 2025, on charges of conspiracy and threats involving explosives. Judge Amy Berman Jackson also imposed three years of supervised release. Prosecutors had sought 57 months behind bars.
“This administration will not tolerate attacks on the institutions and individuals who serve this country,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said in a statement. “Szabo was extradited from Romania to face justice in an American courtroom, and today he has reaped the consequences of his actions.” (RELATED: Man Allegedly Swats ‘NYPD Blue’ Star’s Home In Terrifying Incident)
Szabo’s network targeted lawmakers and others with fake bomb threats and hoax emergency calls, Pirro said. The scheme took aim at 75 public officials, four institutions of religion and several journalists. Victims included no less than 25 members of Congress or their relatives, six then-current or previous high ranking Executive Branch officials, 13 then-current or previous federal law enforcement leaders, federal judges and 27 then-current or previous state-level officials or their relatives, according to the DOJ.
Thomasz Szabo, 27, of Romania, was sentenced today to 48 months in prison for his role as leader of an online swatting ring that targeted more than 75 public officials, four religious institutions, and multiple journalists in a nationwide threat spree.
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— U.S. Attorney DC (@USAO_DC) April 29, 2026
Szabo allegedly operated alongside co-defendant Nemanja Radovanovic of Serbia, whose case remains pending, according to The Associated Press (AP). A third associate, Alan Filion, received a four-year sentence in February 2025 at age 18 after entering a guilty plea for roughly 375 swatting calls from August 2022 to January 2024. An indictment said Szabo instructed Radovanovic to select targets from both major U.S. political parties because “we are not on any side.”
Szabo began building online chat groups dedicated to “trolling” in 2018 before escalating to swatting by late 2020, Fox News reported, citing court documents. He called in a mass-shooting threat against New York City synagogues in December 2020 and threatened to bomb the U.S. Capitol and kill then President-elect Joe Biden the following month, according to court records.
“Swatting is not just a nuisance — it’s extremely dangerous,” U.S. Capitol Police Chief Michael Sullivan said. “This shows that we will cross the globe to track threats down.”