Christopher Chaney allegedly mined details of the stars’ personal lives in celebrity magazines and websites as well as Twitter and Facebook posts, looking for potential passwords that would give him access to their accounts, the FBI said.
Once Chaney gained access and control of an e-mail account, he was able to obtain private information, such as e-mails and file attachments, according to the federal indictment. In addition, investigators believe that Chaney was led to new targets by accessing the address books of victims whose computers he already controlled.
The indictment charges Chaney with illegally accessing the computers, e-mail accounts and account settings of several victims, beginning November 13, 2010, through February 10, 2011.
In most cases, Chaney accessed the administrative settings on the victims’ accounts so that all of their e-mails would automatically be forwarded to a separate e-mail account he controlled. This allowed Chaney to continue to receive victims’ e-mails even after passwords had been reset.
Investigators determined that Chaney distributed some of the files he obtained illegally, including photos of celebrities, and offered them to various celebrity blog sites. Some of the illegally obtained files, including private photographs, were ultimately posted online as a result of his alleged activities.
If convicted on all counts, Chaney faces a statutory maximum penalty of 121 years in federal prison.