A cyber ‘genius’ teenage hacker who caused £7million of damage to the firm behind Grand Theft Auto, has been handed a hospital order and will be detained in a psychiatric facility indefinitely.
Autistic Arion Kurtaj, 18, stole code and video footage from Rockstar’s development of their latest instalment of the hit crime shooter franchise, GTA VI, as part of the multi-million-pound blackmail campaign.
Defiant tech crook Kurtaj, a key member of Lapsus$ cyber-crime group, also blackmailed telecoms firm BT/EE, gt5 demanding a $4million (£3.19million) ransom.
Along with a 17-year-old, who cannot be named, they hacked computer chip maker NVIDIA, Uber and the online bank Revolut, between July 2021 and February 2022.
A jury convicted Kurtaj, from Oxford, of 12 different offences following a seven-week trail in August. However, a sentencing hearing earlier this month heard the 18-year-old wanted to return to a life of crime after he is released.
Autistic Arion Kurtaj, 18, stole code and video footage from Rockstar’s development of their latest instalment of GTA6
He will be transferred to a secure psychiatric hospital in the new year once a bed is available at Marlborough House medium-secure hospital in Milton Keynes
Kurtaj caused £7million of damage to the firm behind Grand Theft Auto, a court heard
Consequently, Judge Patricia Lees said today the ‘only safe option’ was to detain him under section 37 of the Mental Health Act with a restriction order.
Kurtaj, who has been in custody since September last year, attended the hearing via video-link sitting at a table in a room at Feltham young offenders’ institution.
Judge Lees explained that he will be transferred to a secure psychiatric hospital in the new year once a bed is available at Marlborough House medium-secure hospital in Milton Keynes.
Wearing a black t-shirt and dark trousers he showed no emotion as he was led out of the room by a guard.
The 17-year-old, who has ASD (autism spectrum disorder) and was only 14 when the offences began, was sentenced to a youth rehabiliation order for 18 months with three months supervision.
