More than a year after The Fappening, a celebrity hacker has been charged with hacking into the accounts of 130 celebrities by stealing passwords and installing viruses to gain access to celebrity emails, sex videos, nude pictures, scripts, social security numbers and other private information, according to Gizmodo.
Alonzo Knowles, 23, was arrested on Monday in New York by federal authorities after an undercover agent posed as a buyer of the hacked material. Knowles was charged with one count of felony criminal copyright infringement and one count of identity theft.
"This case has all of the elements of the kind of blockbuster script the defendant, Alonzo Knowles, is alleged to have stolen: hacks into celebrities' private emails, identity theft, and attempts to sell victims' information to the highest bidder," said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, according to Variety.
"Unfortunately, these circumstances are all too real. I want to thank [Homeland Security Investigations] for their quick work to stop Knowles's alleged intrusions and his efforts to profit from the information he stole," he added.
Investigators received a tip-off from an executive producer of a hit TV show after a radio show host notified the producer that a man was offering to sell scripts of the series to him.
Knowles allegedly tried to sell the undercover officer 15 scripts for $80,000 and also offered to sell social security numbers of two athletes and a film actress. The accused also sent the agent a sex tape as "a sample of things" he could get and that he had "more stuff along these lines and can get more" if the buyer was interested, according to The New York Times.
Read the criminal complaint against Knowles HERE
