Marcel Lazar, a Romanian hacker who used the hacker alias “Guccifer” has pleaded guilty to two separate hacking charges, prosecutors have announced.
Guccifer, infamous for his 2013 hack which revealed self-portraits of former President George W. Bush and a private email server used by Hillary Clinton has plead guilty to hacking-related charges, the US Justice Department revealed today.
Marcel Lazar entered his guilty plea in the US District Court of Alexandria, Virginia. Sentencing is set for September 1.
“Lazar sought fame by hacking the private online accounts of Americans and releasing their personal information to the public,” explained assistant attorney general Leslie Caldwell, of the DOJ’s Criminal Division.
Lazar has recently claimed in several mainstream media interviews that he had easily hacked into Clinton’s private email server. At the time, the now Democratic frontrunner for the US Presidency was the Secretary of State, when her email server was allegedly breached by Guccifer.
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The Justice Department’s media release did not confirm this to be the case. Moreover, Lazar had also admitted to accessing the emails or social media accounts of atleast 100 American citizens. The targets and victims of his hacking spree were not named, for reasons of privacy.
However, the DOJ did reveal that Lazar’s victims included an immediate family member of two former U.S. presidents, a former member of the U.S. Cabinet, a former member of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and a former presidential advisor.
The Romanian hacker now faces a mandatory sentence of two years in prison for aggravated identity theft conviction. This sentence is to be added to any sentence he receives for the charge of unauthorized access to a protected computer, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Assistant attorney general Caldwell added:
Cybercriminals like Marcel Lazar believe they can act with impunity from safe havens abroad, but the Justice Department’s partnerships with law enforcement agencies around the world ensure that they can be brought to justice.
Image credit: Flickr.
