As expected:
Marcel Lehel Lazar, 44, of Arad, Romania, a hacker who used the online moniker “Guccifer,” pleaded guilty today to unauthorized access to a protected computer and aggravated identity theft.
In a statement of facts filed with his plea agreement, Lazar admitted that from at least October 2012 to January 2014, he intentionally gained unauthorized access to personal email and social media accounts belonging to approximately 100 Americans, and he did so to unlawfully obtain his victims’ personal information and email correspondence. His victims included an immediate family member 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 advisor, he admitted. Lazar admitted that in many instances, he publically released his victims’ private email correspondence, medical and financial information and personal photographs.
Lazar was indicted by a federal grand jury on June 12, 2014, and will be sentenced on September 1, 2016. He faces a mandatory sentence of two years in prison for the aggravated identity theft conviction, to be added to any sentence he receives on the conviction for unauthorized access to a protected computer, for which he faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
SOURCE: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Virginia