Notorious hacker 'Guccifer' pleads guilty to hacking George W Bush and 100 others

The Romanian hacker known as “Guccifer” pleaded guilty to breaking into the email and social media accounts of about 100 Americans - including those of former presidents George H W Bush and George W Bush.

Guccifer, whose real name is Marcel Lehel Lazar, entered his plea before a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, on Wednesday morning. He was charged with identity theft and unauthorised access to protected computers between October 2012 and January 2014.

The Associated Press says Mr Lazar, 44, will serve at least two years for his crimes, which hold a maximum penalty of seven years in prison. Sentencing is set for September.

“Cybercriminals like Marcel Lazar believe they can act with impunity from safe havens abroad, but the Justice Department’s partnerships with law enforcement agencies around the world ensure that they can be brought to justice,” Assistant Attorney General Leslie R Caldwell said in a statement.

“Lazar sought fame by hacking the private online accounts of Americans and releasing their personal information to the public; instead, he has been convicted in United States federal court.”

A former taxi-driver, Mr Lazar was accused of hacking the email accounts of several US officials, including former Secretary of State Colin Powell. He rose to notoriety after hacking the emails of a Bush family member, which led to the leak of George W Bush’s painted self portraits.

He also claims to have hacked Hillary Clinton’s controversial private email server. Mr Lazar’s obtainment of an email between a Clinton adviser, Sidney Blumenthal, reportedly revealed Ms Clinton’s controversial private email address while Secretary of State, sparking the FBI investigation into the matter.

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The US State Department declared on Wednesday morning that Ms Clinton violated their rules in her use of the private email server.

Nonetheless, the FBI was not able to find proof, however, that Mr Lazar had actually hacked the server - which he told NBC was like an “open orchid on the Internet” with “hundreds of folders”.

Before his late-March extradition to Virginia, Mr Lazar served time in Romania where he was captured in January 2014.

Guccifer (pronounced “Goo-chee-fur”) said his name was intended to combine “the style of Gucci and the light of Lucifer”, although his hacking techniques were known to be relatively low-tech, using information gleaned from Wikipedia to figure out passwords of his targets.

The hacker also embraced popular conspiracy theories surrounding powerful figures in the US - such as a private club called Bohemian Grove, which includes former US presidents Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, both Bushes, as well as former Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, among others.

“The evil is leading this f*cked up world !!!!!!” Mr Lazar had reportedly written of such organisations. “I tell you this the world of tomorrow will be a world free of illuminati or will be no more.”