Full Breakdown
Heist Targeting a London Data Center: Inside Terry Ellis’s Planned Server Theft
7/13/2026, 12:07:27 PM
The Planned Heist
In the winter of 2007, professional thief Terry Ellis was contracted to infiltrate a King’s Cross data center operated by Verizon’s business division. The objective was to remove roughly 80 servers that stored “damning evidence” of “some influential bankers from America” who had allegedly “circumnulated” regulations on prime-mortgage lending. To accomplish this, Ellis intended to bring four computer technicians to disable the machines without destroying the data, and to add a fifth participant supplied by the client. The operation would require breaking into the facility and extracting the hardware while avoiding detection.
Background and Motivation
Ellis, described in his self-published memoir *The Art of Robbery* as a “hard man” inspired by crime movies such as *Ocean’s Eleven*, had built a reputation as a dependable heistman by the mid-2000s. His fixer—referred to only as “Ray” and likened to the English actor Ray Winstone—had previously supplied smaller jobs but warned that this assignment was “of an entirely different order.” The target data center housed server space rented by numerous major financial institutions, including one of the world’s largest banks, making it a repository for the alleged mortgage-regulation violations.
Key Players and Groups
- Terry Ellis – veteran thief and author of *The Art of Robbery*.
- “Ray” – unnamed fixer who arranged the job and insisted on additional client involvement.
- Verizon – operator of the King’s Cross data center, inherited through recent corporate mergers.
- Unnamed American bankers – described as “influential” participants in prime-mortgage activities whose incriminating files were stored on the servers.
- Four computer technicians – recruited to disable the servers without data loss.
Gaps and Unverified Details
The account relies heavily on Ellis’s memoir and the magazine’s narrative; no independent verification of the bankers’ identities, the existence of the incriminating files, or Verizon’s response is provided. The article offers no official statements from Verizon, the financial institutions involved, or law-enforcement agencies, leaving critical aspects of the alleged scheme unconfirmed.
