The hacker who uncovered Hillary Clinton's private email server has been sentenced to 52 months in federal prison. Photo by Rebecca Cook/UPI | License Photo

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 1 (UPI) -- The Romanian hacker known as "Guccifer" who uncovered Hillary Clinton's private email server and illegally gained access to dozens of prominent Americans' personal accounts has been sentenced to 52 months in federal prison.

Marcel Lazar, 44, a Romanian cab driver who went by the online pseudonym Guccifer, was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Virginia after pleading guilty to charges of aggravated identity theft and unauthorized access to a protected computer. Federal District Court Judge James Cacheris sentenced Lazar to 24 months and 28 months on the charges and ordered those sentences to be served consecutively.


Lazar was the hacker who unearthed and publicized the domain www.clintonemail.com, which the Clintons used to host their private email accounts and those of close aides. Hillary Clinton continued to use the domain when she was secretary of state, leading to accusations she mishandled classified government information. The email scandal wound up coming under investigation by Congress and the FBI.

Lazar first came upon Clinton's private email after hacking the account of her friend and close adviser Sidney Blumenthal.

Lazar also hacked the private account of former President George W. Bush, releasing images of a personal painting, a self-portrait in the bathtub.

Lazar was extradited to the United States by Romania to face a grand jury. He still faces a seven-year sentence in his home country when he is finished serving the sentence handed down in the United States on Thursday.