A Romanian hacker known as “Guccifer”, who posted unofficial emails sent to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the internet, was extradited from Romania and made his first court appearance in the United States on Friday.
Forty-four-year-old Marcel Lehel is charged in a nine-count indictment, that includes three counts of gaining unauthorised access to protected computers, the US Justice Department said in a statement.
According to the indictment, Lehel “hacked into the email and social media accounts of high-profile victims, including a family member of two former US presidents, a former US Cabinet member, a former member of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and a former presidential advisorJustice Department Statement
It did not name the victims but in 2013, news websites published hacked emails sent to Clinton by her former adviser Sidney Blumenthal, offering the first public clues about Clinton’s unconventional email arrangements and attributing the hack to Guccifer.
Clinton, the front-runner in the race for the Democratic 2016 presidential nomination, has apologised for using a private email server for official business while secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. The FBI is conducting an inquiry into the arrangement.
(Also read: Hillary Clinton on Use of Private Email: Everything was Permitted)
Guccifer shot to fame in 2013 after he claimed responsibility for:
- Hacking into George W Bush’s family emails and posted artwork by the former US president, including self-portraits in the bathtub.
- Distributing emails exchanged by former US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Corina Cretu, a Romanian member of the European Parliament, prompting Powell to deny the two had an affair.
Lehel, arrested in Bucharest in January 2014, was serving a combined seven-year sentence in Romania, including a four-year-term handed down in 2014 for illegally accessing email accounts of public figures.
According to the US indictment,
Lehel “publicly released his victims’ private email correspondence, medical and financial information and personal photographs.”Justice Department Statement
Lehel appeared in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. The other charges in the indictment are:
- Three counts of wire fraud
- One count of aggravated identity theft
- One count of cyberstalking
- One count of obstruction of justice
The statement did not say what punishment the charges carried.
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