A hacker who stole nude photographs of women including Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton before they were widely shared online has been sentenced to nine months in prison.
Edward Majerczyk is one of three men convicted over the notorious leak that became known as 'Celebgate' and 'The Fappening'.
After pleading guilty last year to one count of unauthorised access to a protected computer to obtain information, the Chicago man has been ordered to pay US$5700 towards the cost of counselling services for a victim whose photographs were spread online, in addition to the time behind bars.
Majerczyk's guilty plea and sentencing are for the hack itself, not the dissemination of the stolen material - an investigation into that is said to be still ongoing.
He gained access to the material through a phishing scheme targeting 300 Apple iCloud and Gmail accounts, belonging to both "people he came across in his life" as well as at least 30 celebrities, including Hunger Games star Lawrence.
"It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime... it's disgusting," Lawrence told Vanity Fair after her private photos were shared online.
"I can't imagine being that thoughtless and careless and so empty inside."
Over 100 celebrities were eventually targeted in the Celebgate/Fappening leak, with their photos and information published on sites like Reddit and 4chan.
Along with Majerczyk, two other men have been convicted separately of conducting similar hacks as part of the same photo leak; Ryan Collins, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months in prison, and Andrew Helton, who was sentenced to six months and fined US$3000.
Newshub.
