US prosecutors unsealed a 14‑count second superseding indictment that adds eight defendants to an existing case, bringing the total to 17 people linked to the Iran‑based Mabna Institute. Six of the new defendants are alleged participants in the 2017 HBO intrusion that led to a Bitcoin extortion attempt valued at roughly $6 million. Prosecutors say Mabna operated as a private firm carrying out cyber intrusions on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other Iranian government, university and private‑sector clients. The indictment alleges the group compromised more than 100,000 professor accounts, stole about 31.5 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property, and caused more than $20 million in investigation and remediation costs across private‑sector and government targets. The case expands a probe that began in 2018 and ties the HBO breach directly to the broader Mabna prosecution. The Justice Department has not alleged that HBO paid the ransom. The State Department’s Rewards for Justice program offered up to $10 million for information leading to the location of five named defendants.