A hacker who illegally accessed cloud-based accounts of 89 artists, including Ed Sheeran and Lil Uzi Vert, and sold unreleased music on the dark web in exchange for cryptocurrency, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison. I was.
Adrian Kwiatkowski, of Hampton Roads, Ipswich, was found guilty of obtaining unpublished and unfinished material from these accounts and earned £131,000 ($148,000). city of london police Friday (October 21st).
The 23-year-old hacker pleaded guilty to 14 counts of copyright infringement, 3 counts of computer misuse and 3 counts of violations under the Proceeds of Criminal Proceeds Act in Ipswich Magistrate’s Court on August 27.
Most recently he was sentenced to 18 months in prison by the Ipswich Criminal Court.
“Kwiatkowski was a very accomplished man, but unfortunately, I thought he could use his abilities illegally. Not only did it damage them, it robbed them of their ability to release their work,” said Detective Constable Darryl Fryatt of the City of London Police’s Police Intellectual Property and Crime Unit (PIPCU).
Detective Constable Fryatt added: Kwiatkowski will face the consequences of his actions in the future, and hopefully they will encourage his customers to once again refrain from buying illegal content. ”
The ruling began when several musicians’ management firms reported that a hacker known online as Spyderk gained access to a series of accounts and sold unreleased music online. It also presents the culmination of a year-long investigation into Kwiatkowski.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office opened an investigation in 2019. The investigation successfully traced his IP address to Spirdark’s cryptocurrency accounts and the device used to hack his one of the accounts as his home address.
On September 12, 2019, Kwiatkowski was arrested following further investigation, and seven devices containing hard drives containing 1,263 unreleased songs by 89 artists were found. About £64,000 worth of bitcoin was also seized, according to London police.
another statement Kwiatkowski’s search from Britain’s Crown Prosecutor’s Office (CPS) on Friday said apple Mac laptop found 565 audio files, including songs by Vert and Sheeran.
Additionally, investigations found that Kwiatkowski had deposited a total of £67,275 into his bank account between February 2018 and September 2019, of which £61,855 came from his crypto accounts.
Commenting on the ruling, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr. said:
“New York and London are cultural capitals of the world, and through our enduring partnerships with Police Intellectual Property Crime Units and law enforcement agencies around the world, we have demonstrated the capabilities and tools to stop this type of crime. We sent a message to prevent criminal activity and protect victims,” Bragg added.
Chief Prosecutor of the CPS Serious Economics Organization and International Board Joan Jaquimek said, “Kwiatkowski completely disregarded the musicians’ creativity and efforts to produce original songs, and the subsequent loss of income. He selfishly stole their music and sold it on the dark web to make money.”
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