A HACKER who stole unreleased music from Ed Sheeran and Kanye West has been jailed.
Adrian Kwiatkowski, 22, illegally accessed the cloud-based accounts of top music artists and their producers to create electronic copies of unfinished songs.
Kwiatkowski targeted cloud-based accounts with music from artists including Kanye West[/caption]
Music by Ed Sheeran was found on Kwiatkowski’s laptop[/caption]
When the defendant’s Apple Mac laptop was searched, 565 audio files were found from a series of well-known artists including Sheeran, West and rapper Lil Uzi Vert.
Police said Kwiatkowski, of Ipswich, Suffolk, made £131,000 after he confirmed he sold them under the alias Spirdark.
Joanne Jakymec of the CPS said Kwiatkowski had “complete disregard for the musicians’ creativity” and “selfishly stole their music to make money for himself by selling it on the dark web“.
An investigation was launched in 2019 by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office following complaints from a number of management companies of several musicians.
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They reported an individual, known online as Spirdark, had gained access to a series of accounts and was selling the content that had been saved in them.
Authorities were able to link the email address used set up Spirdark’s cryptocurrency account to Kwiatkowski.
The IP address used to set up the account was linked to one of his device’s which revealed his home address.
Investigators handed the case over to City of London Police’s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) and he was later arrested on September 12 2019.
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The unit seized seven devices including a hard drive that contained 1,263 unreleased songs by 89 artists, police said.
A document saved on the hard drive summarised the method he had used to obtain them.
Kwiatkowski told police during an interview he had hacked the musicians and sold their songs online. He confirmed that he sold the tracks under the alias Spirdark.
Bitcoin, then worth £64,000, was seized. Further reviews of Kwiatkowski’s bank account showed that he had deposited a total of £67,275 from February 2018 to September 2019, £61,855 of which was from his cryptocurrency accounts.
Kwiatkowski pleaded guilty at Ipswich Magistrates Court on August 27 to fourteen copyright offences, three counts of computer misuse and three offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
He admitted three charges of unauthorised access to computer material, 14 charges of making for sale an article infringing copyright, one charge of converting criminal property and two charges of criminal property.
Kwiatkowski also admitted accepting cryptocurrency in exchange for the songs.
‘COMPLEX SCHEME’
He was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Detective Constable Daryl Fryatt from City of London Police’s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) said: “Kwiatkowski was a highly skilled individual who unfortunately saw potential in using his abilities unlawfully.
“Not only did he cause several artists and their production companies significant financial harm, he deprived them of the ability to release their own work.
“This investigation is an excellent example of the way PIPCU and its partner agencies work across international borders to identify those involved in criminal activity.
“Kwiatkowski will now face the consequences of his actions, and I hope this result will also make his customers refrain from purchasing illegal content again.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L Bragg Jr said: “Cybercrime knows no borders, and this individual executed a complex scheme to steal unreleased music in order to line his own pockets.
“New York and London are cultural capitals of the world, and through our enduring partnership with the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit and law enforcement organisations around the world, we have sent a clear message that we have the ability and tools to stop this type of criminal activity and protect victims.”