Hacker jailed for stealing unreleased songs by Ed Sheeran and Lil Uzi Vert
A computer hacker who stole two unreleased songs from Ed Sheeran and 12 from an American rapper and offered them for sale on the dark web has been jailed.
Adrian Kwiatkowski offered the songs by Sheeran and US musician Lil Uzi Vert in exchange for cryptocurrency after hacking the performer's digital accounts, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office launched the investigation in 2019 after the management companies of several musicians reported that an individual had gained access to a series of accounts and was selling the content.
City of London Police’s Intellectual Property Crime Unit seized seven devices from 23-year-old Kwiatkowski, including a hard drive that contained 1,263 unreleased songs by 89 artists.
One laptop Kwiatkowski owned revealed 565 audio files alone which included the songs by Vert and Sheeran, according to the CPS.
A document saved on the hard drive summarised the method he had used to obtain them, and Bitcoin was also seized.
According to the City of London Police he made £131,000.
Kwiatkowski, of Hampton Road in Ipswich, admitted three charges of unauthorised access to computer material, 14 charges of making for sale an article infringing copyright, one charge of converting criminal property and two charges of possession of criminal property.
He also admitted receiving Bitcoin cryptocurrency for the songs and on Friday he was jailed for 18 months at Ipswich Crown Court.
Joanne Jakymec of the CPS said: "Kwiatkowski had complete disregard for the musicians' creativity and hard work producing original songs and the subsequent loss of earnings.
"He selfishly stole their music to make money for himself by selling it on the dark web.
"We will be pursuing ill-gotten gains from these proceeds of crime."
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L Bragg Jr said: "Cybercrime knows no borders, and this individual executed a complex scheme to steal unreleased music in order to line his own pockets.
"New York and London are cultural capitals of the world, and through our enduring partnership with the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit and law enforcement organisations around the world, we have sent a clear message that we have the ability and tools to stop this type of criminal activity and protect victims."
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