Image: Rockstar Games
The teenager who leaked Grand Theft Auto 6 footage online has been sentenced to indefinite custody at a hospital.
The 18-year-old hacker who infamously leaked early footage from Grand Theft Auto 6 online has now been sentenced to indefinite custody at a hospital. According to the BBC, hacker Arion Kurtaj was originally meant to stand trial for hacking Rockstar Games, but was deemed unfit due to, “acute autism.” The outlet states that he has been sentenced to a lifetime in hospital custody until he is found to be, “no longer a danger.”
Kurtaj was found guilty on 12 charges including fraud and blackmail, after his hacking group Lapsus$ hacked Uber and NVIDIA, in addition to Rockstar Games.
GTA 6 hacker gets sentenced to lifetime in custody
Arion Kurtaj leaked more than 90 clips of early gameplay footage from GTA 6, following his hack of Rockstar Games last year. Rockstar claims that the hack cost the company some $5 million to recover from, along with thousands of hours of work from its employees. Kurtaj had reportedly been on bail after his hacking group was investigated for hacking NVIDIA, when he used an Amazon Firestick, his hotel TV and a mobile phone to hack into Rockstar’s company Slack.
Kurtaj then stole almost an hour of footage from GTA 6 and published it online, confirming the game’s Vice City setting and dual protagonists. At the time, Rockstar called the leak ‘disappointing’ but confirmed that it was real. GTA 6’s first trailer eventually broke multiple viewership records upon its release. Kurtaj’s defense team used the trailer’s success to argue that the hack had not caused Rockstar significant harm, but the court ruled that he had not only affected Rockstar but other companies and staff, and intended to continue doing so to boot.
Kurtaj was reportedly aggressive while in custody, as the outlet states that there were, “dozens of reports of injury or property damage,” attached to his person since the arrest. Another 17-year-old Lapsus$ member was also sentenced, but will only be held for 18 months under a youth rehab program.
Rockstar isn’t the only company in the games industry to suffer such a damaging hack in recent times. PlayStation Studios’ Insomniac Games was hacked this week by a ransomware group, which published company data containing early footage of Marvel's Wolverine and files confirming the existence of upcoming games in development at the studio.
