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Hacker famous for leaking photos of George W. Bush’s paintings pleads guilty

Guccifer is said to have hacked more than 100 Americans.

 

Patrick Howell O'Neill

Tech

Posted on May 25, 2016   Updated on May 26, 2021, 5:29 pm CDT

The infamous hacker known as Guccifer pleaded guilty on Wednesday to hacking nearly 100 Americans to illegally steal personal information and emails.

Guccifer, a 44-year-old Romanian man named Marcel Lehel Lazar, faces charges that include unauthorized access to a protected computer and aggravated identity theft.

“Lazar sought fame by hacking the private online accounts of Americans and releasing their personal information to the public,” Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwel said in a statement. “Instead, he has been convicted in United States federal court.”

Lazar originally became famous in 2013 for hacking celebrities including the Bush family and releasing photos of paintings by former President George W. Bush.

More recently, Lazar been near the center of the Hillary Clinton email scandal, after he claimed to have accessed Clinton’s personal servers. Lazar offered no proof for such claims, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation says they have no evidence of a breach.

Victims of Guccifer include Bush, family members of two former U.S. presidents, a former member of the U.S. Cabinet, a former member of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a former presidential adviser.

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*First Published: May 25, 2016, 12:20 pm CDT