EXCLUSIVE: Hillary's email firm was run from a loft apartment

EXCLUSIVE: Hillary's email firm was run from a loft apartment with its servers in the BATHROOM, raising new questions over security of sensitive messages she held

* *Democratic White House front-runner used Platte River Networks of Denver, Colorado, to maintain her controversial 'home brew' server*
* *Up to 60 emails with classified material have been found in a sample of those she did not delete - meaning there could be many more*
* *Now Daily Mail Online reveals new questions over security of her emails when Platte River was involved in maintaining server*
* *'Mom and pop' firm used converted residential apartment and had its own servers in a bathroom closet *
* *Links between 'local' IT company and Clinton remain unclear but its VP of sales and marketing, who was sued for 'fraud' is said to be 'big Democrat'*

By Hugo Daniel In Denver, Colorado, For Dailymail.com

Published: 08:12 EST, 18 August 2015 | Updated: 09:17 EST, 18 August 2015

The IT company Hilary Clinton chose to maintain her private email account was run from a loft apartment and its servers were housed in the bathroom closet, Daily Mail Online can reveal.

Daily Mail Online tracked down ex-employees of Platte River Networks in Denver, Colorado, who revealed the outfit's strong links to the Democratic Party but expressed shock that the 2016 presidential candidate chose the small private company for such a sensitive job.

One, Tera Dadiotis, called it 'a mom and pop shop' which was an excellent place to work, but hardly seemed likely to be used to secure state secrets. And Tom Welch, who helped found the company, confirmed the servers were in a bathroom closet.

It can also be disclosed that the small number of employees who were aware of the Clinton contract were told to keep it secret.

The way in which Clinton came to contract a company described as a 'mom and pop' operation remains unclear.

However Daily Mail Online has established a series of connections between the firm and the Democratic Party.

Home to the home-brew server: This is the apartment complex where Platte River Networks was based until this year. It used a residential apartment as its base



Home to the home-brew server: This is the apartment complex where Platte River Networks was based until this year. It used a residential apartment as its base

'Mom and pop': Platte River Networks was housed in this apartment. The servers were in a closet off the bathroom, former employees tell Daily Mail Online



'Mom and pop': Platte River Networks was housed in this apartment. The servers were in a closet off the bathroom, former employees tell Daily Mail Online

Rising tally: A report suggests State Department Investigators have already found 60 emails sent from Hillary Clinton's private server with classified information on them. She is pictured at the Iowa State Fair

Rising tally: A report suggests State Department Investigators have already found 60 emails sent from Hillary Clinton's private server with classified information on them. She is pictured at the Iowa State Fair

Platte River Networks worked for Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper - once heavily tipped to be Clinton's 2016 running mate - during his election to be mayor of the city in 2003

The company's controversial vice president of sales David DeCamillis is also said to be a 'big Democrat' supporter who offered his house to Joe Biden for the party's convention held in Denver in 2008.

It will be the small scale of the firm and its own home-made arrangements which will raise the most significant questions over security and over what checks Clinton's aides made about how suitable it was for dealing with what new transpires to be classified material.

Daily Mail Online spoke to former employees of the firm, including Tera Dadiotis, who was a customer relations consultant between 2007 and 2010.

Describing it as 'a great place to work, but kind of like a mom and pop shop', Tera reacted with disbelief that her former company was hired to manage the email system of Democratic juggernaut Hilary Clinton.

Speaking to Daily Mail Online at her home in Castle Rock, Colorado, Tera said: 'I think it's really bizarre, I don't know how that relationship evolved.

'At the time I worked for them they wouldn't have been equipped to work for Hilary Clinton because I don't think they had the resources, they were based out of a loft, so [it was] not very high security, we didn't even have an alarm.

New headquarters: This office in Colorado is the new based for Platte River Networks.

New headquarters: This office in Colorado is the new based for Platte River Networks.

Open for business: Platte River Networks celebrated the opening of its new office with this group picture of staff. Former staff said the firm had been a fairly small-scale operation

Open for business: Platte River Networks celebrated the opening of its new office with this group picture of staff. Former staff said the firm had been a fairly small-scale operation

'I don't know how they run their operation now, but we literally had our server racks in the bathroom. I mean knowing how small Platte River Networks... I don't see how that would be secure [enough for Clinton].'

Founded in 2002 by entrepreneurs Treve Suazo, Brent Allshouse and Tom Welch, Platte River Networks worked out of a 1,858 square feet loft apartment in downtown Denver up until this earlier year when they moved to a much bigger 12,000 sq.ft space.

The company celebrated the upgrade with an open house party on June 18, which they excitedly posted on their website and facebook page.

Describing the old office, Tera, 30, said: 'It was a loft downtown and they [the co-founders] owned it. It was one big open space where we had cubicles and two bathrooms.

'I actually lived in the same building.'

Clinton's 'homebrew' computer system housed her emails while she was Secretary of State between 2009 and 2013. Platte River Networks provided its services in mid-2013 according to Barbara Wells, the company's lawyer.

In March Clinton said she wiped the server clean but experts say some of the more than 60,000 emails she deleted may be recoverable.

The server is now in the hands of the FBI who took it off Platte River Networks hands last Wednesday.



Hillary Clinton's brewing scandal - in which she used her own, private Internet server to send and receive sensitive, classified U.S. documents while she served as the secretary of state, has been given new impetus. There is growing evidence that the small tech company, Platte River Networks, hindered government agents and left vital information vulnerable to foreign hackers.


Levels of competency on the part of Platte River -- based in Denver, Colorado - ability to keep these emails private have been a topic of national concern. Hillary Clinton's emails would have been potentially a target for foreign espionage.

Levels of competency on the part of Platte River -- based in Denver, Colorado - ability to keep these emails private have been a topic of national concern. Hillary Clinton's emails would have been potentially a target for foreign espionage.

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)

Catholic Online (www.catholic.org )

8/14/2015 /(1 year ago)/

Published in Politics & Policy

------------------------------------------------------------------------

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - It's since been learned that Platte River Networks has been "sued for stealing dozens of phone lines, including some which were used by the White House," according to Free Republic.

The company is also accused of illegally accessing the master database for all U.S. phone numbers, seizing 390 lines, which created chaos across the U.S. government.

The telephone numbers that Platt Lynne Networks seized were lines for White House military support desks - and stopped functioning, a lawsuit from the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy claims.

Others telephone number seized "were the main numbers for major financial institutions, hospitals and the help desk number for T2 Communications, the telecom firm that owned them," according to Free Republic.

According to the lawsuit, the debacle took 11 days to fix. Platte River has been requested to pay up to $360,000 in compensation.

Levels of competency on the part of Platte River -- based in Denver, Colorado - ability to keep these emails private have been a topic of national concern. Clinton's emails would have been potentially a target for foreign espionage.

Clinton installed the system at her home in Chappaqua, upstate New York. She handed over the server to the FBI, currently investigating her and a number of her top aides.

The Inspector General for the intelligence community says that he had found at least four emails that were stored on it were classified and two of those were Top Secret - which is the highest level of confidentiality.

Clinton has insisted during this time that none of the emails were classified at the time she sent or received them. At that time, Clinton had left her post as Secretary of State. She was in office between 2009 and 2013.

T2 Communications alleges that it "provided 16 phone lines to an insurance broker called Cambridge, until they decided to switch providers and signed up with Windstream Communications, who worked with McLeod USA, a local exchange carrier owned by Windstream, and Platte River," according to Free Republic.

In lieu of taking over the 16 lines, T2 claims that the companies asked for 390 more lines in what they called "intentional misappropriation."

T2 alleges they accomplished this by illegally accessing the database for the Number Portability Administration Centre, the master agency that manages all U.S. phone numbers.

"Under NPAC regulations, telecommunications providers are only allowed to access the NPAC data base for the exclusive purpose of routing, rating of calls, billing of calls, or performing maintenance in connection with the provision of telecommunications services," the lawsuit says.

"Contrary to these NPAC regulations, Defendants accessed the NPAC database to find T2s 390 telephone lines as well as to obtain T2 and its customers' proprietary network information for use in marketing T2's lines to their existing and prospective customers."