Man accused in Harvard bomb threat, extortion plot last year pleads guilty to a lesser charge

By STEVE LeBLANC
Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — A New Hampshire man who had been accused of participating in a plot in which a caller issued bomb threats to Harvard University and demanded a large amount of bitcoin, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in federal court Wednesday. Fifty-five-year-old William Giordani, was arrested last year on charges including making an extortionate bomb threat. That charge was dropped. He effectively pleaded guilty to knowing about a felony and not reporting it. Investigators now say Giordani was coaxed by an individual on Craigslist into dropping off a bag on campus with firecrackers, a metal safe and wires.