Rockstar Games/Take-Two Interactive/Business Wire
- The hacker behind a huge "GTA VI" leak has received an indefinite hospital order, the BBC reported.
- Arion Kurtaj hacked Rockstar from a hotel room while on bail for carrying out previous hacks.
- The court heard that Kurtaj had been violent while in custody.
The 18-year-old hacker who orchestrated a massive leak of "Grand Theft Auto VI" footage reportedly hacked Rockstar Games while under police protection using a hotel TV, cellphone, and Amazon Fire Stick.
BBC News reported that a British judge sentenced Arion Kurtaj to an indefinite hospital order after he hacked the "GTA" maker and leaked gameplay videos of the highly anticipated game in 2022.
The order means that rather than serving time in prison, Kurtaj, who The Guardian reported was deemed unfit to stand trial due to his severe autism, is set to be involuntarily hospitalized for life unless doctors clear him to leave.
Kurtaj committed the crime while under police protection and on bail after infiltrating microchip giant Nvidia and BT/EE, the court heard.
The Oxford-based hacker was a member of the international hacking gang Lapsus$. In addition to Rockstar and Nvidia, the gang also hacked Uber, which cost the three companies nearly $10 million, BBC News reported.
The court heard that Kurtaj had been violent while in custody. He will remain in a secure hospital for life unless doctors deem he is no longer a danger to the public, the outlet reported.
The hack in September 2022 saw more than 90 videos of an early version of "GTA VI."
Kurtaj, who uploaded the videos to "GTA" forums under the username TeaPotUberHacker, reportedly broke into the company through its Slack, The Guardian reported.
Rockstar confirmed at the time that the leak was real and said it was "extremely disappointed" that key details of the game, including its setting in a fictional version of Miami, had been revealed early.
The company finally unveiled the trailer for "GTA VI" in early December after yet another leak, which may have been carried out by the child of a Rockstar employee, per unconfirmed reports by Eurogamer.
The trailer was watched 93 million times on YouTube in the 24 hours after it was released.
Rockstar did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.