A Bahamanian man who is accused of hacking into celebrity emails to steal movie scripts, sensitive information and sex scandals pleaded guilty last Monday. Alonzo Knowles was arrested last December after attempting to sell unreleased movie scripts to an undercover agent for $80,000.
He pleaded guilty last Monday in a Manhattan federal court to the charges of criminal copyright infringement and identity theft, Business Insider reported. Knowles said, "I am sorry for my actions."
Knowles, 24, agreed to forfeiture of $1,900, 25 unreleased movie and TV shows scripts in his possession and copies of unreleased music which were discovered in his Dropbox account. He has also agreed to waive his right to appeal should he get a sentence below 2-3/4 years. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 25, 2016.
The investigation yielded a list of at least 130 email addresses and phone numbers. Victims included movie and TV actors, a casting director, a singer-songwriter, and a hip hop artist.
The script that Knowles tried to sell to the undercover agent was for "All Eyez On me," the biopic on Tupac Shakur. Tupac was killed in 1996 shooting.
The probe in December was prompted when someone described as being "a popular radio host" was offered scripts for a TV drama that had yet to air. Said radio host then contacted the executive producer of the show and eventually the Department of Homeland Security was called in.
In video conferences between Knowles and the undercover agent, the hacker revealed that he had "exclusive content" worth "hundreds of thousands of dollars." He described the scripts he had as "really profitable."
Knowles then went to New York and met with the agent. He provided 15 scripts plus social security numbers of three pro athletes and an unnamed actress. Knowles was arrested immediately after the meeting.
He disclosed that he was able to retrieve email accounts and passwords by sending viruses to the computers of unsuspecting victims. Another tactic he used was sending the celebrities fake notifications saying their emails had been hacked while asking for passwords.
