Yeah I know... People suffered a lot even people died. But who is to blame here ? Noel Birdman, who didn't complied because of his own greed knowing perfectly he was misleading his customers to cash out ? Or those hackers exposing their motive to close the site ?

Would it be different if it only affected people from a higher status?

Personally, Noel Birdman should be in prison for what he has done but he is free like a bird doing the exact same scheme.

For the extortion, that's another issue. But I do agree that they could have only leaked Birdman's info and other important stuff to damage their reputation, but that would only be temporary...