A computer hacker who stole two unreleased songs from Ed Sheeran and 12 from an American rapper and offered the tracks for sale on the dark web has been jailed for 18 months. Adrian Kwiatkowski, of Hampton Road in Ipswich, offered the songs by Sheeran and by US musician Lil Uzi Vert in exchange for cryptocurrency after hacking the performer’s digital accounts, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
The 23-year-old defendant’s Apple Mac laptop was searched, uncovering 565 audio files which including the songs by Vert and Sheeran, the CPS said. He made £131,000, City of London Police said.
Kwiatkowski 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 possession of criminal property, the CPS said. He also admitted receiving bitcoin cryptocurrency for the songs, and he was jailed for 18 months at Ipswich Crown Court on Friday, the CPS said.
