Athens officials outline recovery, indictments and security fixes after $722,000 cyber theft

Service Safety Director Andy Stone told reporters that the city of Athens was the victim of a cyber theft in November 2024 that the city reported at about $721,976.26 and that investigators have since recovered and frozen a portion of those funds.

Stone said the city filed a John-and-Jane-Doe civil lawsuit within days of discovering the theft to obtain subpoenas for banking records. He told reporters that investigators were able to freeze roughly $349,522 in a target account and that mediation among the two identified victims and the bank resulted in a negotiated division of the frozen funds. Stone said the city also secured funds from insurance and mediation and credited City Treasurer Josh Thomas for investment activity that returned additional money to the fire station project fund.

"Speed was of the essence to stop any further transfer and laundering," Stone said, describing the quick civil and investigative steps that led to early recoveries. He also said the city filed an IC3 report with the FBI, worked with the Athens police investigations team and retained outside counsel.

St…