Harvard Bomb Hoaxer Released on Bail

Eldo Kim, the sophomore psychology student charged with engineering a Harvard bomb hoax to escape his final exam, was released on bail Wednesday. The bond was a whopping $100,000, but a few other conditions had to be met as well: Kim had to give up the South Korean half of his dual citizenship and turn over his passport to the feds so he can't leave the country. Additionally, he's banned from Harvard's campus except to get his possessions with a supervisory escort.

Kim pled not guilty, although according to earlier reports, he had told investigators he had orchestrated the hoax in order to avoid taking the exam. He showed up to court in Harvard sweatpants, but we're guessing that's as close as he'll be getting to campus again. He was released into his sister's custody, who lives nearby.

As Bustle reported yesterday, Kim really took procrastinating to a whole new level:

Around 8:30 Monday morning, Kim anonymously emailed two Harvard officials, campus police, and the student newspaper, the Harvard Crimson, to tell them that there were “shrapnel bombs” ready to go off soon in two of four buildings he mentioned.

“Shrapnel bombs placed in science center, sever hall, emerson hall, thayer hall, 2/4,” Kim allegedly wrote. “Guess correctly. Be quick for they will go off soon.” He later admitted to adding the qualifier ‘shrapnel’ to make the threat seem more dangerous. Like you do.

The four buildings the bombs were said to have been in were all evacuated shortly thereafter, postponing Harvard’s 9 a.m. exams — including Kim’s. He told investigators he knew his plan had succeeded when he heard the alarms go off. His threats drew officials from three U.S. federal agencies, including the Secret Service, and four police departments.

Police later figured out that Kim had used the Harvard WiFi to create the temporary IP address and email address through which he sent the messages. Later that night, police interviewed him in his dorm room.

In a statement, Harvard school officials said they were "saddened by the details alleged in the criminal complaint."

Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz told NBC that it’s apparently “very hard” to fail an exam at the school.

“It’s very hard to fail a government class,” Dershowitz added. “You know, you can get a ‘C,’ but it’s very hard to get a ‘D’ at Harvard with grade inflation. I doubt that anyone who got into Harvard would fail a government exam.”