Lapsus$: The cybercriminal who leaked GTA 6 said he would commit crimes again

Hacker Arion Kurtaj, accused of being a member A group of cybercriminals known as Lapsus$, should remain detained in the United Kingdom. The 18-year-old, who lives in Oxford, was heard again in court, but his sentence was not cancelled.

According to BBCthe prosecutor on the case, Kevin Barry, even asked in court whether the young man will commit a crime again if he were released. “That’s what he told me the last time I saw him.” reported Claudia Camden-Smith, the psychiatrist who accompanied the defendant.

The judge in the case, Patricia Lee, decided to postpone the sentence until the end of this month. The adjournment was necessary to subject the young man to a new definition of his psychiatric condition: he was autistic and was considered “incapable of judgement.”

His sentence must be overturned under special treatment based on the English Mental Health Act, which applies to people deemed “a risk to themselves or others” due to mental health problems.

Hackers are still waiting for a decision

Kurtaj has been in prison since September 2022, where he was investigated for his alleged involvement in leaking information. Grand Theft Auto VI. Other people thought to be the leaders of the gang were also detained in the same month.

When he was younger, the Briton was part of Lapsus$, a group of cybercriminals who claimed responsibility for attacks against companies such as Rockstar Games, Nvidia and Uber, as well as targets in Brazil.

In August of this year, he and another minor defendant accused of being part of Lapsus$ were formally tried – the other defendant had not yet turned 18 and so his name was not released.

Members of the group were mostly young people who hacked into systems and sold stolen data on forums. Microsoft was also the target of the gang in 2022.

The young man’s lawyers argued that the hack “caused no serious harm” to anyone and was “inconsequential compared to the overall production and anticipation of the game.”

On the other hand, the prosecution argued that there were many victims of the crime because the data was stolen and used fraudulently by the defendants. Kurtaj was found guilty of 12 different crimes.