Former Main Line College Students Sentenced For Trump Tax Hack

MAIN LINE, PA — Two former Main Line college students got probation and community service for trying to hack then-presidential candidate Donald Trump's taxes, according to federal authorities.

United States Attorney William M. McSwain said Monday that Justin Hiemstra, 22, of St. Paul Park, Minnesota, and Andrew Harris, 23, of Philadelphia, were both sentenced today to two years of probation and 200 hours of community service.

In August 2019, Hiemstra pleaded guilty to using a school computer and someone else’s username without that person’s permission in an attempt to illegally obtain then-Presidential candidate Donald Trump’s tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service.

Harris pleaded guilty to the same charges in September 2019.

The pair were students at Haverford College at the time of the crime.

The charges came from a plot between the Hiemstra and Harris to use school computers and the Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) website to illegally access the tax returns.

Hiemstra and Harris opened a false FAFSA application in the name of a member of the Trump family and found that someone else had already obtained a username and password for Donald Trump.

In order to reset the password, the defendants were prompted to answer challenge questions, which the original person had created when setting up the account.

Hiemstra and Harris were able to answer the questions and reset the password.

They then used Trump's personal identifying information, including his social security number and date of birth, to attempt to import Trump's federal tax information into the bogus FAFSA application.

Hiemstra and Harris were ultimately unable to access Trump's taxes.