Hacker Indicted for Breaking Into Online Accounts of Bush, Others

By Devlin Barrett 

A federal grand jury has indicted a convicted Romanian hacker, accusing him of being the "Guccifer" who last year released private emails and pictures of paintings by former U.S. President George W. Bush.

Marcel Lehel Lazar, 42, who was sentenced to four years in prison last week by a Romanian court in a separate hacking case, was indicted Thursday in federal court in northern Virginia. It's not clear if U.S. authorities will wait until he serves out that sentence before trying to extradite him to face charges in the United States, though the two sides have been working together on the separate hacking cases against Mr. Lazar.

A lawyer for Mr. Lazar could not be identified.

Prosecutors allege that between December 2012 and January 2014, Mr. Lazar hacked into the AOL, Facebook, and Yahoo accounts of former high-ranking U.S. officials or their relatives, including a member of the Bush family, a former member of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and a former presidential adviser. Among the private information Guccifer then released publicly was a portrait that Mr. Bush had painted of himself taking a shower.

A Bush spokesman declined to comment.

At another point, according to the indictment, Mr. Lazar allegedly impersonated one of his victims, using their hijacked account to send messages to other accounts. He was charged with wire fraud, unauthorized access of a protected computer, identity theft, cyberstalking, and obstruction of justice.

If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison for the most serious charge against him.

Write to Devlin Barrett at [e-mail]

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