Prosecutors in Manhattan have accused an Iranian hacker of stealing information about a series of unreleased Game of Thrones episodes from HBO servers, and then trying to "extort" the network into paying a $6 million (£4.5m) fee.

Behzad Mesri, who went by the alias Skote Vahshat, was indicted for cybercrimes related to the alleged hacks, the district attorney announced on Tuesday.

He has not been taken into custody and the authorities are trying to locate him.

Prosecutors claim that Mr Mesri was a "self-professed expert in computer hacking techniques" who had worked on behalf of the Iranian military to attack military and nuclear software systems, as well as Israeli infrastructure.