#instagram influencer sentenced to 14 years for violent plot to steal domain name

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

A social media influencer has been sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for concocting a scheme to violently coerce a stranger into giving up a web domain name, the US Department of Justice announced today.

The influencer, Rossi Lorathio Adams II, went by the name “Polo,” and he ran a series of accounts across Instagram and other platforms known as State Snaps while attending college at Iowa State University. The accounts, which Adams began operating around 2015, typically involved depictions of risky or sexually explicit behavior, often featuring college girls. According to The Washington Post, one account Adams ran on Instagram had amassed 1.5 million followers.

Adams, however, became increasingly frustrated that he did not own…

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