Atlanta Man Denies He is Celebrity Nude Selfie Hacker

A 26-year-old Atlanta area software engineer has been forced to defend himself against allegations that he is the person who hacked in to the iCloud accounts of celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton and distributed nude selfies of the celebrities online.

The Daily Mail in the United Kingdom claims the Atlanta man tried to sell the nude photographs in exchange for Bitcoin, an online cryptocurrency, on popular internet websites such as Reddit and 4chan. In his defense, the man claims that the photos he was attempting to sell were nothing more than misleading images he created using Photoshop.

He originally posted the images on 4chan and Reddit using a screen name and demanded $100 in Bitcoins for them, The Daily Mail reports. However, 4chan users were able to discover the man’s identity and personal information using the images the man had posted that allegedly proved he was in possession of the nude pictures.

The man told The Daily Mail that he was “an idiot” and that he was merely trying to get Bitcoins because they “sounded cool,” and that he was merely piggy-backing on the actual hacker or hackers’ release of the photographs.

Gawker reports that the nude photographs were released on 4chan at approximately 4 p.m. Sunday. Users of 4chan and Reddit claimed the pictures were obtained by hacking their iCloud accounts, an online storage medium used by Apple iPhones. Celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Avril Lavigne, and Lea Michele had nude photographs leaked.