‘The Fappening’ hacker who leaked Jennifer Lawrence’s nudes sentenced to jail

One of the “Fappening” hackers who leaked Jennifer Lawrence and other celebrities’ nude photos has been jailed. George Garofano, 26, was sentenced to eight months in prison on Wednesday for illegally hacking the private Apple iCloud accounts of over 200 people.

Garofano was one of the four people charged in the Fappening scandal of 2014 that saw Lawrence and other celebrities’ nude photos released online. Celebrity victims also included Kirsten Dunst, Kate Upton, Kaley Cuoco, Rihanna, Ariana Grande and Brie Larson among others.

The hacker pleaded guilty earlier this year. He also admitted to a phishing scheme, in which he sent emails from fake Apple security accounts to steal the personal information of users. He said he had exchanged the usernames and other information of his victims with other people.

He will spend eight months in jail and then three years of supervised released after serving his sentence. He will also do 60 hours of community service.

The case began in September 2014 when nude or sensitive photos of female celebrities were leaked online. It was said the photos were originally posted on the imageboard site 4Chan.

Garofano is the fourth hacker involved in the scandal who have already been sentenced. In 2016, Ryan Collins from Pennsylvania was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to felony hacking and violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Edward Majerczyk also pleaded guilty to the same charges also in 2016. He was sentenced to nine months in prison. Last year, Emilio Herrera pleaded guilty to the same. He is yet to be sentenced.

In an interview with Vogue last year, Lawrence called the hacking a “sex crime.” She said she still hadn’t been able to feel safe since it happened.

“It’s scary when you feel the whole world judges you,” she told the magazine. “I think people saw [the hacking] for what it was, which was a sex crime, but that feeling, I haven’t been able to get rid of it. Having your privacy violated constantly isn’t a problem if you’re perfect. But if you’re human, it’s terrifying. When my publicist calls me, I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, what is it?’ Even when it’s nothing. I’m always waiting to get blindsided again.”