On Tuesday, Edward Majerczyk of Chicago pleaded guilty to hacking into 300 email accounts, 30 of which belonged to celebrities, during a period from 2013 to 2014. That hack was part of a larger incident known as "The Fappening," which grossly purveyed nude photographs of female figures, including Jennifer Lawrence, Hope Solo, Kirsten Dunst, and Kate Upton, across the Internet.
Majerczyk was not accused of selling or posting the information, only illegally accessing it, according to the Chicago Tribune. He sent emails to the victims that appeared to be from legitimate sources, got them to input their usernames and passwords, and then accessed their Gmail and iCloud accounts to download the information. Another hacker, Ryan Collins, pleaded guilty to a similar charge in "the Fappening," also known as "Celebgate," earlier this year. It appears that the men were working independently of each other.
Lawrence has become the most vocal celebrity voice in the incident, famously calling the leak a "sex crime" in Vanity Fair. Luke O'Neil also wrote about the hacking and nonconsensual nude imagery for Esquire, saying, "It's not just a piece of her body we're after here, it's a piece of her soul."
Collins faces 18 months in prison. Majerczyk is reportedly seeking a nine-month sentence. The maximum federal sentence for this type of crime is five years.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this headline mistakenly said that the second hacker had been sentenced. He is awaiting sentence. We regret the error.
