Chicago Hacker Receives 9-Month Jail Term For Downloading Celebs' Nude Pix In Online Scheme

CHICAGO, IL — The Chicago hacker who confessed to a scheme that let him illegally access hundreds of online accounts — including the accounts of celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton and Kirsten Dunst — was sentenced to nine months in prison, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Edward Majerczyk, 29, formerly of Orland Park, pleaded guilty in September to unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information as part of a 20-page deal he struck with prosecutors for a lesser sentence. Before the deal, he could have faced as much as five years in prison, the Sun-Times reports.

Along with the jail time, Majerczyk, whose parents are retired Chicago police officers, must also pay $5,700, half of the cost of counseling for one of his victims, the report stated.

Between November 2013 and August 2014, Majerczyk operated a "phishing" scam using fake email addresses that pulled down the personal information and files residing in "the cloud" from more than 300 online users. Some of those users included big-name Hollywood stars, such as Lawrence.

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The account hacking drew national attention when nude and sexually explicit photos of Lawrence and other celebrities started to appear online in various forums and on websites. The flood of compromising images became known as "The Fappening" or "CelebGate."

Although he has admitted to grabbing the files from "the cloud," Majercyzk, a former ComEd customer service representative who now lives with his mom, has continually denied selling or passing along any of the photos or information that he had hacked. During his September court appearance to plead guilty, he said he only accessed celebrity accounts for personal enjoyment, not for profit. A memo by Thomas Needham, Majercyzk's lawyer, filed last week echoes that explanation, according to the Sun-Times.

“Mr. Majerczyk was suffering from depression and looked to pornography websites and Internet chat rooms in an attempt to fill some of the voids and disappointment he was feeling in his life.” Needham wrote.

A federal investigation is still ongoing into how the photos ended up online.

RELATED: Hacker Admits to Illegally Downloading Celebs' Nude Pix From Online Accounts

Lawrence — who had pictures she had taken for her then-boyfriend stolen and leaked — characterized the hacking as "a sex crime" in a 2014 Vanity Fair interview, saying her celebrity status shouldn't make violations like this acceptable.

“Just because I’m a public figure, just because I’m an actress, does not mean that I asked for this," she said. "It does not mean that it comes with the territory. …

“It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime. … The law needs to be changed, and we need to change."

Lawrence also told the magazine that the people who looked at her private photos online were just as complicit in wrongdoing as the individuals responsible for stealing them from her account and releasing them.

“Anybody who looked at those pictures, you’re perpetuating a sexual offense. You should cower with shame," she added.

More via the Chicago Sun-Times

Jennifer Lawrence in "X-Men: Apocalypse" (photo via 20th Century Fox)

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