An Israeli man accused of leaking material from Madge's newest album has been charged with computer trespassing, prohibited secret monitoring, copyright infringement and obstructing investigation.
- Feb 28, 2015
AceShowbiz - A man behind the leak of Madonna's "Rebel Heart" music has been officially indicted in Israel. Adi Lederman, who was arrested by authorities last January in Tel Aviv, has now been charged by Israel's magistrate courts with four counts, which are computer trespassing, prohibited secret monitoring and additional computer trespassing, copyright infringement and obstructing an investigation.
According to court documents filed on Tuesday, February 23, and obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, the 39-year-old man hacked into the private cloud accounts of Sara Zambrano, Angie Teo and Kevin Antunes who shared "various files and music files copyrighted by Madonna Esther Louise Ciccone." Lederman also hacked into an email account belonging to Madonna's manager Guy Oseary as well as 15 other unspecified email accounts.
Lederman, who auditioned on Israeli's TV singing competition "Kochav Nolad (A Star Is Born)" three years ago, allegedly also had got his hands on material from Madonna's previous album "MDNA". According to the documents, "During 2012, after trespassing Zambrano's cloud account as detailed in the first count, the defendant copied an early version of the song 'Give Me All Your Luvin' ' by Madonna for trading purposes and sold it soon after."
The court documents additionally revealed that Lederman sold copies of the song files for "tens of dollars to a thousand dollars and more" to various clients, including those identified as "Craig Lunti" and "Tom Hann."
Lederman was arrested on January 21 following an investigation by local private investigation firm Wizman Yaar. Asher Wizman told Reuters at the time, "Our investigator found her computers, at home and at a studio, were broken into from a computer in Israel. We tracked down the computer, and the man behind it. After gathering enough evidence, we turned to the police and he was arrested today."
Madge was "profoundly grateful" after the culprit was found, thanking the FBI, the Israeli Police investigators and anyone else who helped lead to the arrest of this hacker. "I deeply appreciate my fans who have provided us with pertinent information and continue to do so regarding leaks of my music," she wrote on Facebook.