Indicted editor 'maintains his innocence'

New York-based attorney Tor Ekeland told Reuters Keys “looks forward to contesting these baseless charges”.

Keys, 26, was indicted on Thursday by a federal grand jury in Sacramento, California, on three criminal counts. The alleged events occurred before he joined Reuters in January 2012 as deputy social media editor based in New York.

The indictment alleges Keys gave hackers access to Tribune Company computer systems in December 2010. A story on Tribune’s Los Angeles Times website was altered by one of those hackers, it said.

He is due to be arraigned on 12 April in Sacramento.

Thomson Reuters suspended Keys with pay, a company spokesman said on Friday. ■