GoKawiilIn brief: Remember the teenage GTA 6 hacker who was sentenced to life in a secure hospital facility in 2023? The former Lapsus$ member has been released from the unit and is now in prison awaiting a retrial for his crimes.
Back in September 2022, one of the biggest leaks of all time hit the internet when over 90 videos and screenshots of the still-unreleased GTA 6 were posted to the GTAForums. They originated from a then-18-year-old hacker who also claimed to be behind an Uber breach that occurred a few days earlier.
A couple of days after the leak, the City of London Police arrested the hacker, Arion Kurtaj, thanks to assistance from the FBI and NCCU. He was accused of causing almost $3 million of damage to Uber and accessing around 5,000 Revolut customers' information. Kurtaj and a 17-year-old were also accused of blackmailing BT Group (Britain's biggest broadband provider) and mobile operator EE between July and November 2021; they demanded a $4 million ransom. The pair are also alleged to be behind a hack on Nvidia.
In July 2023, Kurtaj was assessed by psychiatrists as unfit to stand trial due to his "acute autism." That meant a jury could only determine whether he committed the crimes he was accused of, rather than finding him guilty or not guilty.
A mental health assessment also found that he continued to express an intent to return to cybercrime as soon as possible, adding that "he is highly motivated" to engage in more criminal activities.
sentenced in December 2023 the court heard that he will remain at a secure hospital for life unless doctors deem him no longer a danger. But he is now out and will face a conventional criminal trial in November. I have been trying to get this information confirmed with police for weeks after... – Joe Tidy BBC News (@joetidy.bsky.social) 14 July 2026 at 15:38
Even being under police supervision didn't stop the hacker. While staying in a hotel under police protection and despite having his laptop confiscated, Kurtaj was able to hack Rockstar using an Amazon Fire TV Stick provided in the room and a newly purchased phone, keyboard, and mouse. He broke into Rockstar's internal Slack system and threatened to release the source code if the company did not contact him on Telegram.
Kurtaj was ordered to remain in the secure hospital indefinitely, unless doctors determined that he was no longer a danger. BBC correspondent Joe Tidy says he has now been moved out of that facility and into a regular prison awaiting retrial in November. Ironically, it's the same month GTA 6 finally launches on consoles.
Tidy said it's unclear why Kurtaj has now been deemed fit to face a conventional criminal trial after spending more than two years of being in a secure hospital.