A federal jury in Honolulu, Hawaii found FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention co-founder Bryan Melvin Brandenburg guilty of seven counts of sending email threats to bomb buildings in Utah and other parts of the United States.
Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi ordered Brandenburg’s continued detention until sentencing, which is scheduled for November 9, 2023. According to the charges, Brandenburg, 64, sent the threats from Hawaii, where he has recently been a resident of Oahu.
Count one carries a maximum sentence of 20 years of imprisonment. Counts two through seven carry a maximum sentence of 10 years of imprisonment for each count.
In May 2022, Brandenburg was arrested in Hawaii and accused of threatening to bomb multiple buildings in Utah, where he previously lived.
The trial revealed that Brandenburg sent threatening e-mails to individuals involved in his pending divorce case at the 3rd District Courthouse in Salt Lake City, Utah, expressing his intention to bomb the courthouse.
Evidence at the trial showed Brandenburg sent more emails to various locations in Utah where he threatened to bomb the Utah State Capitol, the Mayor’s Office, every Ivy League School, the United States Courthouse in San Diego, Hall Labs in Utah, and the University of Utah Center for Medical Innovation.
Brandenburg reportedly told the FBI that he “wanted to get their attention.”
KSL reported that on March 8, 2022, Brandenburg emailed an employee at the court asking when a ruling would be made on his divorce. The employee told him it would take the judge 60 days to make the ruling.
On May 2, 2022 — 55 days later — Brandenburg allegedly emailed the court demanding a divorce and using an expletive. After being told that his language would not be tolerated, Brandenburg emailed the court the next day, saying, “So go (expletive) yourself. All of you,” and “I guess I’ll just have to bomb the city,” according to the criminal complaint.
On May 4, 2022, Brandenburg sent emails to both court employees where he threatened to bomb the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City, the Utah State Capitol, and the Salt Lake City mayor’s office, charging documents said.
Brandenburg announced back in 2018 that he was taking an “indefinite leave of absence” from FanX after controversy surrounding how the convention handled sexual harassment complaints.
That same year, FanX created a community council to help oversee the event’s anti-harassment policies.
In 2019, Brandenburg sold his share of FanX to pursue other business opportunities, according to KSL.
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