Hacker Terrorizes Paris Hilton For Years

LOS ANGELES, CA — A hacker who terrorized Paris Hilton, impersonating the heiress in order to throw a $40,000 New Year's Eve Party while stealing $130,000 from the reality TV star, was sentenced to nearly five years in federal prison Monday.

Thirty-one-year-old Paytsar Bkhchadzhyan, of Los Angeles, was also ordered to pay $318,500 in restitution to various banks. According to prosecutors, Bkhchadzhyan has a longstanding history of hacking when she targeted Hilton, gaining access to her email and credit accounts and nude photos from her iCloud account. Bkhchadzhyan also used Hilton to get access to the accounts of her friends and family, according to investigators.

The harrassment left Hilton traumatized, she told the court.

"This has impacted me in so many ways," she said. "I am constantly looking over my shoulder and even scared to walk into my home alone, fearful that this woman or her boyfriend or other dangerous friends are inside there waiting to hurt me or steal from me."

Bkhchadzhyan pleaded guilty in December to bank fraud conspiracy. She "waged a targeted campaign against victim Hilton in an effort to gain access to every aspect of Hilton's life, and in many respects succeeded," prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed in Los Angeles federal court.

According to investigators, Bkhchadzhyan participated in a bank fraud conspiracy from November 2015 until her arrest in October. Ultimately, she caused more than $550,000 in actual and attempted losses to the victim banks.

As an example, Bkhchadzhyan victimized Hilton by using computer intrusion techniques to gain access to accounts associated with the celebrity and her family and business. In one instance, Bkhchadzhyan obtained Hilton's business credit card and impersonated the heiress to make a reservation at the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel for a lavish 2015 New Year's Eve party that cost more than $40,000.

In early January 2016, Bkhchadzhyan hacked two of Hilton's email accounts and changed the passwords so that she was locked out of them, then sent emails to Hilton's assistant and accountant requesting that $80,000 be wired into Bkhchadzhyan's bank account.

The same month, Bkhchadzhyan also hacked and took over the email accounts of Hilton's father, sister and manager, and attempted to obtain the user names and passwords for all of Hilton's online accounts.

Bkhchadzhyan also hacked Hilton's iCloud account and obtained the socialite's sensitive and personal information, which included nude photographs of the heiress, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The defendant's "long criminal history is rife with theft- and fraud- related activities starting from the age of 18," federal prosecutors wrote. "She has a history of recidivism, both with respect to the (current) offense and other offenses."

In 2012, Bkhchadzhyan's probation was revoked three times in connection with a felony burglary conviction she sustained for trying to buy a $8,210 purse with another person's charge card, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

"She has over and over stolen the identities of other people and been arrested in possession of credit cards and driver's licenses in other people's names," according to prosecutors. "She has even bitten the finger of a police officer who was trying to prevent her from swallowing a plastic baggie."

FRED SHUSTER, City News Service and Paige Austin contributed to this report.

DECEMBER 3: Socialite Paris Hilton attends Aby Rosen and Samantha Boardman host their Annual Dinner at The Dutch W Hotel South Beach on December 3, 2015 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Aby Rosen)