A US federal grand jury has indicted Anonymous spokesman Barrett Brown in relation to a 2011 data breach at Stratfor Global Intelligence which saw 5000 credit card account numbers stolen.
The indictment alleges that on Christmas day 2011 Brown transferred from one Internet Relay Chat channel to another under his control a hyperlink providing access to more than 5000 credit card account numbers, cardholders' identification information and CVVs, stolen from Stratfor.
"By transferring and posting the hyperlink, Brown caused the data to be made available to other persons online, without the knowledge and authorisation of Stratfor and the card holders," says a statement.
Anonymous hit Stratfor - a global intelligence company - last December, dumping details of 860,000 users and 75,000 credit cards online before handing over a cache of millions of e-mails to WikiLeaks.
Brown is not accused of taking part in the hack but has been charged with trafficking in "stolen authentication features" and possessing stolen credit card numbers. He could face up to 15 years in jail for trafficking.
The hactavist group's spokesman has been in custody since September when he was raided by the FBI after posting a video on YouTube in which he threatened retaliation against an agent.