Guccifer Hacker from Romania who Infiltrated Computer Accounts of Bush and Colin Powell now Facing Criminal Charges in the United States
Marcel Lazar, aka Guccifer, is a Romanian hacker who managed to break into computer accounts of high-profile political figures and is now paying the price of his malicious deeds.
The 44-year old hacker has been charged with hacking computer accounts of the Bush Family as well as of Colin Powell, the former US Secretary of State. Although he committed various other hacking feats but it is these hacks that he is most famous for. Lazar allegedly hacking into the accounts owned by the Bushes and exposed their private family pictures along with paintings linked with former presidents of United States George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. He also hacked the email and Facebook account of Neile Miller who was U.S. Nuclear Security Agency Administrator at that time.
Guccifer has been brought to the US and is now facing criminal charges. In 2014, Lazar was indicted in the US but Romanian officials handed him over to US authorities only recently for prosecution. As per the US law, in indictments, the victims weren’t identified but described one of the Bush family members as “Victim 1.” It was identified that the victim was “a family member of two former U.S. presidents.” Victim 1’s AOL account was hacked and hacker obtained emails, medical information, home addresses, telephone numbers, photographs, etc., according to the indictment.
Some of the hacked pictures were posted by The Smoking Gun including the paintings and a picture of George H.W. Bush while in the hospital. The website stated that the hacked AOL account belonged to the daughter of the elder Bush and sister of the younger Bush, Dorothy Bush Koch.
The “Victim 3” in the indictment seems to be Powell and it is revealed that his Facebook account was hacked allegedly by Lazar who sent out posts on Powell’s behalf stating “You will burn in hell, Bush!” Another post read: “Kill the Illuminati! Tomorrow’s world will be a world free of Illuminati or will be no more!”
Lazar also hacked the AOL account of Hillary Clinton’s confidant Sidney Blumenthal in March 2013, and after exposing her emails it was revealed that Clinton communicated with Blumenthal through her private email address “clintonemail.com”. Blumenthal has been named as “Victim 5” in the indictment and described as “a journalist and former presidential advisor.”
Initially, Lazar appeared in a federal court in Alexandria on Friday. He has been charged with several crimes including wire fraud, identity theft, cyber-stalking, obstruction of justice and gaining unauthorized access to computers. He might get sentenced to 5 to 20 years on these charges.
According to Reuters, as per the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Dana Boente, whose office is prosecuting this case, “Lazar violated the privacy of his victims and thought he could hide behind the anonymity of the Internet. No matter where they are in the world, those who commit crimes against U.S. citizens will be held accountable.”
