Marcel Lehel Lazar, the alleged hacker known as Guccifer who helped validate reports of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email account while Secretary of State, made his first appearance in a U.S. courtroom on Friday after being extradited from Romania.
According to a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) release, Lazar was officially charged with three counts each of wire fraud and gaining unauthorized access to protected computers, and one count each of aggravated identity theft, cyberstalking and obstruction of justice.
The U.S. has accused Lazar of hacking the email and social media accounts of prominent political figures and celebrities and their family members between December 2012 and January 2014—obtaining and publicly distributing their private communications, data and photos. It has been widely reported that Guccifer posted private photos of former president George H. W. Bush and also published internal memos sent to then-Secretary of State Clinton's personal email account.
