The teenager accused of leaking Grand Theft Auto 6 footage last year has been found unfit to stand trial. Here’s everything we know.
Last September saw the eighteen-year-old release over 90 videos and screenshots taken from Grand Theft Auto 6 after hacking Rockstar Games. Now despite facing 12 offences relating to the hacking, they have been deemed unfit for trial.
Grand Theft Auto 6 Hacking
The hacker, later named as Arion Kurtaj, was charged with 12 offences including six charges under the Computer Misuse Act, three blackmail charges and two counts of fraud.
The teenager (who was 17 at the time) was arrested in relation to the hack last year after Rockstar confirmed the early development GTA 6 footage had been “illegally accessed and downloaded.”
It is believed that Kurtaj was a member of hacking group Lapsus$ and has links to hacks of Revolut, Uber, Rockstar, and BT. As well as hacking Rockstar, the teenager threatened to release GTA 6’s source code via their own Slack channel, according to Reuters.
Unfit To Stand Trial
It has now been revealed that Kurtaj is unfit to stand trial. Reuters reports that the hacker was “assessed by psychiatrists as not fit to stand trial”. As a result, a jury will not be brought in to decide guilt but will deliberate if the acts were or were not committed.
Kurtaj has already pleaded guilty to one count of fraud and two offences under the Computer Misuse Act. They were also later found guilty for breaching bail conditions.
Working Alone
Although Kurtaj was suspected of working alone, it is believed they may have been assisted by an unnamed seventeen-year-old in the blackmail of BT and EE. Prosecutors believe they were both “key players” in the blackmail.
Luckily for Rockstar, they released a statement back in September announcing that it “anticipate any disruption to [its] live game services nor any long-term effect on the development of [its] ongoing projects.”
“We are extremely disappointed to have any details of our next game shared with you all in this way,” the statement continued. “Our work on the next Grand Theft Auto game will continue as planned.”
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