A BAHAMIAN man hacked into celebrities’ e-mail bills to
steal unreleased movie and tv scripts and private intercourse tapes and sought
to hawk some of the scripts, boasting to an spy that he had dossiers on at the
least one hundred thirty money owed of stars and bigshots in enjoyment, sports
and media, federal prosecutors said.
Alonzo Knowles turned into being held with out bail after a
court appearance Tuesday on criminal copyright infringement and identification
theft charges as prosecutors described a scheme that still involved proffering
an actor’s passport, Social security numbers for three professional athletes,
unreleased tracks from a singer-songwriter’s upcoming album and an specific
video grabbed from a radio host’s email account.
though none of the sufferers were recognized, prosecutor
Kristy Greenberg told a choose that numerous agents had spoken to individuals
who have been “quite traumatised” via the theft in their personal information.
“this example has all of the elements of the kind of
blockbuster script the defendant, Alonzo Knowles, is claimed to have stolen,”
manhattan U.S. legal professional Preet Bharara said in a statement.
“sadly, these circumstances are all too actual.”
The U.S. government blamed North Korea for the attack.
eventually, former Sony photos co-chair Amy Pascal left her
position after the hack discovered embarrassing emails that protected racially
insensitive comments about President Barack Obama’s purported flavor in films,
and Sony pics agreed to pay current and former employees as much as $8 million
to reimburse them for identification-theft losses and different costs.
additionally ultimate year, hackers broke into girl
celebrities’ personal Apple debts, stole nude pictures and published them on
the net. Jennifer Lawrence and Mary Elizabeth Winstead have stated they were
victims of the hack attack.
The investigation into the 23-yr-old Knowles commenced most
effective this month, after “a popular radio host” acquired an unsolicited
offer from someone selling scripts for the next season of a famous tv drama, in
line with court papers. The radio host contacted the display’s government
producer, who referred to as branch of place of birth safety investigators.
authorities observed that offer to Knowles, of Freeport,
Bahamas, who referred to as himself “Jeff Moxey” and claimed to have “exclusive
content” really worth loads of thousands of bucks, native land safety special
Agent Michael McDonald stated in a complaint.
within days, Knowles — thru video name — was displaying an
spy scripts for an unreleased comedy film, a brand new television show, and
different materials, some marked as having been distributed to actors, the
criticism stated. Knowles stated he’d gotten into celebrities’ debts through
sending either a pc virus or a fake warning that the man or woman’s account
have been hacked, after which using the statistics he got again to exchange the
debts’ e-mail settings so he should hold ongoing get admission to, it stated.
“The opportunities are absolutely unlimited,” Knowles
informed the spy in a recorded communication, in step with the criticism.
On December 12, Knowles sent the spy a sexually express
photo and a video from the e-mail account of a 2d radio host that the host had
acquired from every other victim defined as a “tv host and columnist,” the
criticism stated. It says he claimed, “this is just an instance of factors i
will get.”
At a meeting in ny on Monday, the day he become arrested, he
provided to sell the undercover agent about 15 tv and movie scripts for
$eighty,000, it stated.
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