Computer hacker who leaked nude Scarlett Johansson photos online faces 60 years in prison and $2.2million fine

Jobless Christopher Chaney, 35, pleads guilty to nine charges of hacking

Also admitted accessing emails of Christina Aguilera and Mila Kunis

A computer hacker who admitted accessing Scarlett Johansson's email account and leaking nude photographs of her online faces up to 60 years in prison and a $2.2million fine.

Jobless Christopher Chaney, 35, also pleaded guilty yesterday to nine other counts - including the hacking into the email accounts of singer Christina Aguilera and actress Mila Kunis.

Chaney, of Jacksonville, Florida, was arrested in October as part of a year-long investigation of celebrity hacking that authorities dubbed 'Operation Hackerazzi'.



Guilty: Christopher Chaney (left) admitted hacking into the email of Scarlett Johansson (right) and leaking nude photos of her onto the internet. He know faces up to 60 years in prison and a $2.2million fine



Laid bare: Scarlett Johansson, pictured in this D&G advert, said the nude photos of her that Chaney accessed were intended for her now ex-husband Ryan Reynolds

Prosecutors said he illegally accessed the email accounts of more than 50 people in the entertainment industry between November 2010 and October 2011.

Nude photos Johansson had taken of herself were later posted on the internet. Johansson told Vanity Fair in its December issue that the photos were meant for Ryan Reynolds, now her ex-husband.

Chaney mined through publicly available data to figure out password and security questions for celebrity accounts.



Once he had control of their email account, he also went through their contact lists to find email accounts of fellow stars.

He also hijacked a forwarding feature so a copy of every email a celebrity received was sent to an account he controlled, according to court documents.

A search warrant said Chaney's computer hard drive contained numerous private celebrity photos and a document that compiled their extensive personal data.

Victims: Mila Kunis (left) and Christina Aguilera (right) were also hacked by the jobless criminal



In one instance, Chaney posed as stylist Simone Harouche and sent an email from her account to Aguilera - one of Harouche's clients - asking the singer for scantily clad photographs, prosecutors said.

Some of Aguilera's photos appeared online.



Chaney forwarded many of the photographs to two gossip websites and another hacker, but there was not any evidence that he profited from his scheme, authorities said.

He has since apologised for his actions.

In ordering Chaney to be behind bars until he is sentenced on July 23, U.S. District Judge S James Otero noted the defendant continued to hack into celebrity email accounts - namely one belonging to a star only referenced by initials C.B. - after he was interviewed by FBI agents and confessed to his scheme.

'I don't understand why any person who is rational would continue in that kind of behaviour,' Otero opined.

As part of the plea agreement, Chaney could pay a fine of up to $2.2million. He must pay restitution to his victims, ranging from $15,000 to $400,000.

It is unclear whether Aguilera, Kunis or Johansson would write letters to the judge or attend Chaney's sentencing.

But all three women agreed to have their identities made public after an indictment was announced last October.

Aguilera's publicist Nicole Perez-Krueger declined comment. Messages left for representatives of Kunis and Johansson were not immediately returned.

ESPN reporter Erin Andrews attended the Los Angeles sentencing of insurance executive Michael Barrett in March 2010 after he pleaded guilty to interstate stalking.