A 35-year-old Florida man has been arrested for hacking into the e-mail accounts of celebrities including Scarlett Johansson, Mila Kunis, Christina Aguilera, Simone Harouche and Renee Olstead.
Christopher Chaney of Jacksonville, Florida, was indicted on nine counts of computer hacking for gain, eight counts of aggravated identity theft and nine counts of illegal wiretapping, and faces a maximum of 121 years in federal prison.
“Unfortunately, Mr. Chaney was able to access nude photos of some of the celebrities and some of them were uploaded on the Internet,” U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. said.
Dubbed “Operation Hackerazzi,” the arrest comes after an ongoing effort to find those responsible for hacking into the accounts of more than 50 people associated with the entertainment industry and distributing the information, which included photos of celebrities, to various celebrity blog sites.
Chaney used several aliases such as “trainreqsuckswhat,” “anonygrrl,” and “jaxjaguars911.”
The indictment mentions several celebrities by name, while others are referred to using only initials. J.A. presumably refers to Jessica Alba, who has been reported as one of the hacking victims, while B.P. may refer to Brad Pitt. Officials would not confirm who any of the initials belonged to, however, the did confirm Chaney’s victims included both males and females.
The celebrities who are mentioned by name agreed to have their identities revealed, including Scarlett Johansson, whose nude photos were widely distributed across the Net as a result of the hacking.
Officials did not say whether websites that published the material will face charges.
Chaney issued an apology in an interview with CNN affiliate WAWS. See video below.