In one of the biggest bombshell moments of this generation thus far – and there’s been no shortage of them overall – a catastrophic leak saw dozens of work-in-progress GTA 6 videos and screenshots emerge online. Now the accused perpetrator of that crime, 18-year-old Arion Kurtaj, has been deemed “unfit to stand trial” following an assessment by psychiatrists. As a result, Reuters reports that a jury will now need to determine whether he committed the acts, as opposed to delivering a more traditional guilty or not guilty verdict.
Kurtaj is in trouble for much more than holding Rockstar to ransom, and is also accused of hacking taxi app Uber, computer chip manufacturer NVidia, and financial tech firm Revolut, as well as blackmailing mobile networks BT and EE. In total, he faces a terrifying 12 charges, including three counts of blackmail, two counts of fraud, and six charges under the Computer Misuse Act. Meanwhile, a second unnamed 17-year-old accomplice faces two counts of blackmail, two counts of fraud, and three charges under the Computer Misuse Act. Yikes!
[source reuters.com, via gamesradar.com]
Comments 39
Curious what he said that made him unfit to stand trial tbh.
@Nepp67
There's a lot more that goes into being deemed incompetent to stand trial that just random comments one would say. They have to first off determine whether you are even aware of your own actions or at the very least aware of the consequences of your actions. Which is interesting that they determined he's not considering it takes a lot of work to hack several major companies. Whether or not they are going to determine he is now competent to stand trial after counseling we will have to wait and see.
Someone who’s this clearly talented and is only 18 would be better suited to rehabilitation followed by lots and lots of job offers. They’ve clearly shown the security of these very large corporations to be worthless, so with a fair and firm hand they could easily be guided towards a more worthwhile use of their skills.
@Nepp67 Probably now suffers from mental health issues due to realising what he could be facing in terms of financial charges and a lengthy prison sentence. Someone that young that would definitely do a number on their mental state. I'm not making excuses for him though as he deserves what he gets for those offences.
@nessisonett
The problem with that idea is you could be playing with fire. For starters you got a kid who very clearly has a serious mental illness if he has been deemed incompetent to stand trial. Usually it's not a problem to give employment to someone suffering a mental illness as most cases they are perfectly harmless but with this kid he has done a lot of damage already and is mentally disturbed (it takes a lot to be deemed incompetent in a U.S court). I really doubt any company would ever want to give cybersecurity privileges to him in any capacity and I don't blame them.
@PegasusActual93 I’m sure the completely competent and by no ways unfit for purpose US medical system will be a better place for him.
@nessisonett
I never said that was any better of a place for him I am just saying no company wanting to touch that with a 100 foot pole is understandable.
He can be a accessory to the crime but not the person who was the perpetrator of the crime. Like if you just drive the get-a-way car when robbing a bank you still get charged with robbing a bank. Maybe the other person just used his computer knowing it would lead police to him. Thinking that way he could get away with the crime.
The bar to be assessed "unfit for trial" is high in the UK, often referring to someone with schizophrenia, learning disability or severe, legitimate mania. (sometimes autistic spectrum disorders) The overwhelming majority of people in that circumstance would also not be capable of such sophisticated crime, and not being fit for trial in the UK indicates things such as, not being able to understand the concept of a jury etc.
I'm interested to see the details/how this pans out, and how the US legal system is different.
(DOI - UK Psychiatrist)
Removed - inappropriate
@WolfyTn GTA Online probably needs to stop printing money for them first.
@WolfyTn
Yes because a company taking their time to make something justifies them being hacked, having assets held for ransom and having their hard work leaked in a state that was by no means ready to be publicly shown. Real 300 IQ take there. Not at all reeking of entitlement
@PegasusActual93 this isn't being handled in US court tho.. this happened in like Europe
@Umno
Whether it's an American or European court, my points all still stand. Pretty much every western nation has high standards for someone to be deemed incompetent to stand trial.
… Or he’s way too clever for the system and knows exactly what to say and how to behave to get the necessary tick boxes.
Just think about the amount of attention to detail and brain power that goes into committing these cyber crimes.
If you end up getting sectioned under the mental health act in the UK. You’re in a far worse position than if you’re convicted of a crime.
If you’re convicted of a crime, you get a fixed sentence. If you’re sectioned under the mental health act, the doctors can do whatever they want to you until they decide you’re better.
Historically our doctors have been reluctant to decide anyone is better ever.
I'd be surprised if he were diagnosed with mental health issues as these days they get ignored and encouraged in equal measure.
All that brain power at such young age straight to the bin. Could have easily become rich just by reporting security breaches and bugs for a rewards rather than exploiting it for ransoms....
@WolfyTn "but Your Honor, this whole case of sexual assault would have never happened if she had agreed to date me in the first place"
Nobody owes us entertainment, even the industries making money on it.
I truly doubt a leaker could reveal anything we don’t already know about GTA games, lol.
@Arnna Well, he leaked quite a bit of gameplay, therefore setting, characters etc., including the source code.
Oh no someone leaked a bit of info about a video game, who cares. It affects absolutely nobody and nothing. The secrecy within the video game industry is absolutely bizarre.
All that trouble he's caused for himself over a video game 🤦🏻
Hope it was worth it!
The source code leak is what really screwed him.
Had he just leaked a few images it’s likely Take 2’s lawyers would have offered him a pretty good plea deal.
But when the source code is leaked the company’s law department tends to push for maximums.
This guy is such a bad boy.even puffy dont want nothing to do with him.haha
Word up son
My personal opinion and were all allowed to have those. To me this is what's wrong with the USA theirs no justice and no being held accountable for one's actions and money pays everybody out of every wrong deed. They say this guy is unfit to stand trial but he was smart enough to premeditate and plot and plan to go after these companies and excuit it!! Yea theirs nothing wrong with this picture at all!!
@PegasusActual93 this is the old "IDIOT SAVANT" thread. "soo smart, that he is a bumbling idiot" seems legit.
@riceNpea "Ohh Look at Brad with the big brain!"
"Pulp Fiction"
What's the purpose of such leak? That game will be there for us for the next 3 console generations...to say the least.
@MakersMark
Mental illness has nothing to do with intellect unless it's specifically an intellectual disability. Not sure how you even got the two associated. He can be a brilliant programmer/hacker while suffering from a warped sense of reality due to mental illness. Look at Terry Davis for just one example of that.
@PegasusActual93 you are too young to remember the movie "THE RAIN MAN" watch it, and get back with me...
@pumpkin_head even learning disabilities don't necessarily get you off.....I have ADHD, autism, EUPD, aswell as psychosis....not to mention FND that effects me in more ways than one. Including memory and cognitive abilities.....these are ALMOST all diagnosed since early on in life (psychosis and FND were later in life but still at the time) and have spent lengthy time in hospital due to these issues......yet it didn't stop me.being judged as competent, even though the majority of services AND my persona doctor and psychiatrist said otherwise....but obviously they use their own psychiatrist so as to try to make sure that they can seem you fit........so to actually be deemed unfit must mean there's something serious going on........
@tofuman86 the purpose was so we could all finally actually see something of it....it's been kept such hush hush. And taken YEARS before anything was mentioned....they had denied working on it till this kid leaked it.....then they had to come out and say they were working on it....I say good on him.
@nessisonett That sounds like a massive liability in your company if you employ someone like that.
Give it 20 years, and this kid will be the ceo of some company, making millions.
Ahh so many dudes blathering on about nonsense. Look dudes, the boy was standing to get years and years in prison if he stood trial. Now, I don't know if powers that be decided to go easy on the dude or if his Albanian (and make no mistake, the boy is Albanian) "mafia" connections managed to get to the right people to declare him unfit, but I'm sure glad his life is not going to be totally devastated for what was practically a victimless crime (yeah, dude, I don't give a dog's tail about some corpos crying about imaginary loss their borg central suffered because of a script kid attack).
@MakersMark “I’m an excellent driver”
Proceeds to drive up onto curb repeatedly.
“Unfit” to stand trial, but very fit to hack everything around him…. 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️
@Savage_Joe seriously… fit enough to work at some of the biggest companies sheesh
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