A Connecticut man has pleaded guilty to hacking the iCloud accounts of 240 people, including actresses Jennifer Lawrence and Kirsten Dinst and supermodel Kate Upton.
George Garofano, 26, of North Branford pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information. He will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Victor Bolden in Bridgeport at a date to be determined. Garofano, who is free on $50,000 bond, faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Federal authorities accused Garofano of stealing Apple iCloud accounts from the celebrities in a 2014 breach. Armed with their account information, Garofano lifted nude photos and videos that were then posted on popular sites, including 4chan, Reddit and Anon-IB, according to his plea agreement.
Garofano's attorney told the Connecticut Law Tribune Thursday that his client was an unwitting player in the scheme.
"This is a young man who has no criminal record that got involved with some more sophisticated types who turned out to be criminals. He was easily led by these criminal types to do things he would not normally do," said attorney Richard Lynch of New Haven. "He was led into this phishing scheme and he was naive and went along with it."
The plea comes as another person charged in the ordeal, Emilio Herrera of Chicago, was sentenced to 16 months in prison for his role in the crime. Herrera, 32, pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced last month.
Herrera's sentencing and Garofano's guilty plea wrap up the third and fourth cases related to the hacking.
Edward Majerczyk, 28, of Chicago pleaded guilty in 2016 and received a nine month prison term last year. Ryan Collins, 36, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months last year.
Garofano Plea Agreement by The Republican/MassLive.com on Scribd