The DOJ is lying, and lies routinely about this. A link to Popehat, the blog of a former federal white-collar crimes prosecutor who writes about civil liberties, was provided upthread and explains it in detail.<p>There is no substance whatsoever to the &quot;35 years&quot; figure.<p>The reality is that we don&#x27;t really have to ask what Swartz was thinking, because after his death, his lawyer wrote up his predicament. The trial would have been ruinously expensive, but there was a very good chance that <i>even if he was found guilty</i>, he would serve no custodial sentence.<p>You can back that up by finding the federal sentencing guidelines, lookup up the CFAA guidelines, and applying them to Swartz, who had no previous criminal record, caused no significant damage in his offense, and sought no profit from his crimes (all factors considered by the guidelines).<p>It&#x27;s very hard to shoot down an urban myth as virulent as &quot;Swartz faced 35 years in prison&quot;, though. Especially when so many people want it to be true.