Second man pleads guilty in “Celebgate” or “Fappening” image leaks of Hollywood celebs of Jennifer Lawrence, Kirsten Dunst, and Kate Upton and others
Everyone who is a follower of Hollywood celebs will remember the mass celebrity phone hack of September 2014 which was subsequently named as Celebgate by media and Fappening by 4Chan and Reddit users. The hacker than proceeded leak the nude images stolen from Hollywood celebrities on 4Chan image boarding website from where it was shared through the world.
After two years, the long hands of law have finally reached the Fappening hackers. Illinois man Edward Majerczyk is pleading guilty to the crime of illegally accessing the iCloud and Gmail accounts of more than 300 people using an e-mail phishing scam, sending e-mails that appeared to be from the security accounts of Internet service providers, like “[email protected]” and “[email protected]” that directed targeted individuals to a website and prompted them to give up their personal information.
If proven guilty, Majerczyk faces up to five years in prison. Though the federal authorities may enter into a plea deal with Majerczyk for pleading guilty, his sentence will likely be set somewhere in the range of six to twelve months.
Majerczyk is the second hacker to plead guilty in Fappening leaks. In March, Pennsylvania man Ryan Collins plead guilty to the same type of crime, breaking into the personal e-mail accounts of 100 people, including celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence, Kirsten Dunst, and Kate Upton. Collins has not yet been sentenced, but prosecutors recommended a sentence of 18 months. The two cases aren’t related, both men were acting independently, but both of the hackers were caught as a result of the same FBI investigation. Neither Collins nor Majerczyk seem connected to the leak of the photos so more arrests could be coming till all the perpetrators are brought to justice.
“Just because I’m a public figure, just because I’m an actress, does not mean that I asked for this,” Jennifer Lawrence told Vanity Fair in 2014, just a few months after the mass leak. “It does not mean that it comes with the territory. It’s my body, and it should be my choice, and the fact that it is not my choice is absolutely disgusting. I can’t believe that we even live in that kind of world. ”
