A Bahamas-based hacker was busted for trying to sell scripts, personal information and sexually explicit pictures and videos of celebrities that he stole from his famous victims’ personal email accounts, authorities said Tuesday.
Alonzo Knowles, 23, of Freeport, Bahama, was arrested in Manhattan Monday after trying to sell scripts to an undercover agent, according to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
 |
| Alonzo Knowles in court with Federal Defender Clay Kaminski during arraignment and bail hearing. Knowles was not grated bail. |
Knowles tried selling scripts from a hit TV show to an unidentified radio host, and also offered to sell sexually explicit images and videos that he had stolen from the personal email accounts of various celebrities and sports figures to undercover agents, prosecutors said.
“This case has all of the elements of the kind of blockbuster script the defendant, Alonzo Knowles, is alleged to have stolen: hacks into celebrities’ private emails, identity theft, and attempts to sell victims’ information to the highest bidder. Unfortunately, these circumstances are all too real,” Bharara said.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations began looking into Knowles, also known as Jeff Moxey, this month after a tip from an unnamed radio host.The radio host contacted the producer of a show after Knowles offered to sell him scripts of unproduced episodes of a popular hit show.
None of Knowles victims were named by prosecutors.
 |
| Alonzo Knowles sits in arraignment court, awaiting his hearing flanked by Deputy Marshall Mark West and Federal Defender Clay Kaminski |
No comments:
Post a Comment