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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

‘Guccifer’ Pleads Guilty to Hacking Bush Emails

(CN) — A Romanian hacker who used the screen name "Guccifer" and claimed to have accessed Hillary Clinton's email server admitted to hacking a member of the Bush family, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

Marcel Lehel Lazar, 44, pleaded guilty to unauthorized access to a protected computer and aggravated identity theft, the U.S. Justice Department announced Wednesday morning.

Prosecutors say he admitted that, from October 2012 to January 2014, he hacked the personal email and social media accounts of about 100 Americans, including "an immediate family member of two former U.S. presidents," a former cabinet member and a former presidential adviser.

His alleged victims include family members of former President George W. Bush and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, according to various reports.

Lazar also claimed earlier this month to have hacked into presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton's private email server, but that claim is unconfirmed.

The Justice Department said he admitted to publicly releasing his victims' personal email addresses, medical and financial information, and photos.

The plea agreement does not address Lazar's claim of hacking Clinton's emails.

Lazar is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 1 before Eastern Virginia U.S. District Judge James Cacheris.

In March 2013, the Smoking Gun posted pictures of what the hacker claimed were paintings done by Bush, as well as an image of his father, George H. W. Bush, in a hospital bed.

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