A hacker behind 2014’s Celebgate has been sentenced to a year and a half in jail, according toThe Hollywood Reporter. Celebgate saw stolen photos, including nude ones, of celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence, Gabrielle Union, and Kate Upton released on sites like 4Chan and Reddit.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge William W. Caldwell sentenced 36-year-old Ryan Collins to a year and a half in federal prison, announced Attorney Bruce D. Brandler in a news release. THR reported the news release didn’t name the hacking victims, only referring to them as “female celebrities.”
Collins reportedly admitted he used a phishing scam to get the photos and other private information from victims’ accounts. He was charged with felony computer hacking and faced up to five years in prison. Prosecutors agreed to recommend the 18 month sentence in exchange for a guilty plea on the count of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information. Investigators never found evidence that Collins shared or uploaded the stolen photos. Over 600 victims were identified in Celebgate, including Kim Kardashian and Vanessa Hudgens.
Deirdre Fike, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said the following about the sentencing, reportedFortune: “The prison sentence received by Mr. Collins is proof that hacking into the accounts of others and stealing private information or images is a crime with serious consequences.”
A second hacker in Celebgate, who worked independently from Collins, pled guilty to illegally accessing over 300 iCloud and Gmail accounts.
