It goes without saying, but don’t commit crime, and certainly learn from your mistakes if you do. Unfortunately, one person who hasn’t learned his lesson is Arion Kurtaj, the 18-year-old male responsible for the massive GTA 6 leaks in 2022.
Kurtaj was a member of the cyber-crime group known as Lapsus$ who was responsible for hacking Nvidia, Uber, Revolut, and blackmailing BT/EE for $4 million along with his accomplices. It has been said that Kurtaj’s hack on Nvidia, Uber, and Rockstar Games caused $9.3 million in damages.
The GTA 6 leak is what Kurtaj and Lepsus$ are best known for, which gave us a first look at the game in 2022, revealing key information such as its location, and that there would be two protagonists. Kurtaj would later attempt to blackmail Rockstar Games by threatening to release the source code for the build of GTA 6 which he had gained access to.
Kurtaj has been incarcerated since September 2022 and appeared via video-link at a court hearing today. During this hearing, it was revealed by psychiatrist Dr Claudia Camden-Smith that during an assessment, Kurtaj had stated his intention to return to his life of crime upon being released.
Prosecutor Kevin Barry referred to the GTA 6 leaks during the hearing saying,
This material was highly confidential as the game is a billion-dollar franchise and the latest installment is hotly anticipated. He published some of the stolen footage taken during the hack on online forums and blackmailed Rockstar Games that he would release the precious source code which forms the building blocks of the game unless they contacted him – presumably to discuss ransom payment.
Kurtaj has now been placed under a 12-week hospital order citing that he is suffering from mental illness.
After a decade of anticipation, Rockstar Games finally revealed the first trailer for GTA 6 on December 4, 2023, following a leak online ahead of the scheduled release date. As of writing, the GTA 6 trailer currently sits at over 131 million views in just over four days, breaking multiple records.
Check out the GTA 6 reveal trailer below.
For more Insider Gaming, check out all of the winners from The Game Awards 2023.
