Feds charge hacker who leaked Bush paintings

The hacker who broke into former President George W. Bush’s email and released pictures of his paintings was charged by federal officials with a slew of crimes on Thursday.

The hacking charges against 42-year-old taxi driver Marcel Lazar, known by the online alias “Guccifer,” come a week after a Romanian court sentenced him to four years in jail.

{mosads}According to the Justice Department, Lazar hacked into the email accounts of a Bush family member, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and other top governmental figures from 2012 to 2014.

In 2013, he rose to fame by releasing images of paintings that Bush had made, including self-portraits in the bathtub and in the shower. After his fondness for painting was exposed, the former president this year held a formal art exhibit at his presidential library in Dallas.

In addition to the Bush paintings, Lazar also unearthed emails that seemed to show Powell having an affair with a Russian diplomat, Corina Cretu. Powell denied that the emails showed a romantic relationship and said the two were merely friends. 

Lazar was arrested in Bucharest, Romania, in January.