Hacker Adrian Lamo died at the age of 37

Adrian Lamo, the hacker who turned Chelsea Manning in to the FBI for leaking classified government documents on Wikileaks, has died.

Lamo’s father, Mario, announced the news Friday on Facebook.

‘With great sadness and a broken heart I have to let know all of Adrian’s friends and acquaintances that he is dead,’ Mario Lamo posted. ‘A bright mind and compassionate soul is gone, he was my beloved son.’

Mario Lamo did not reveal how or when his son died. Lamo, who was living in Wichita, Kansas, was 37.

Kate Flavin, a spokeswoman for Sedgwick County’s regional forensic science center told Business Insider that an autopsy is being conducted and will determine the cause of death.

Flavin also told the outlet that she was unsure when Lamo died or how his body was found.

Lamo's father Mario confirmed the death Friday on Facebook. A cause of death has not been revealed

Lamo was first thrust into the spotlight in 2002 when he hacked the systems of major US corporations, including The New York Times and Microsoft.

According to the Times, Lamo broke into the paper's internal computer network and added his name to their database of expert sources. He also used the newspaper's LexisNexis account to conduct research on high-profile people, running up a $300,000 bill.

He pleaded guilty to the Times hack and was fined and sentenced to six months of home detention.

Lamo became a star in the hacker community, but that all changed a few years later when he outed former US Army soldier Chelsea Manning as the person who dumped thousands of classified government documents on WikiLeaks.

Lamo and Manning struck up a friendship online in 2010. Manning, who was going by the name Bradley at the time before transitioning into a female, confided in Lamo that she had copies of thousands of documents the US government wanted to remain classified.

Manning told Lamo that she handed over the secret documents to Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks.

Lamo reported Manning to the FBI, later saying he feared that lives were in danger.

‘Had I done nothing, I would have been left wondering whether the hundreds of thousands of documents that had been leaked to unknown third parties would end up costing lives, either directly or indirectly,' the recreational hacker told The Guardian in a 2011 interview.

In the early 2000s Lamo hacked into the systems at The New York Times and Yahoo and was sentenced to six months of home detention

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange commented on Lamo's death calling him a 'petty conman' and a 'snitch'

Lamo's actions led to Manning being arrested and sentenced to 35 years in prison. Manning's sentence was later commuted by former President Barack Obama, and she was released last year.

Lamo was also labeled a traitor among other hackers. One of his biggest critics was Assange, who called Lamo a 'petty conman' in a tweet about his death.

‘Coroner says serial FBI snitch Adrian Lamo is dead. Lamo, a fake journalist, petty conman & betrayer of basic human decency, promised alleged source (Chelsea Manning) journalistic protection, friendship and support, then sold him to the FBI,' Assange posted, also sharing a Gif of Lamo putting on a hat with the words 'snitch' written on it.

Lamo was well aware of his infamy telling US News last January that turning Manning in was not his 'most honorable moment' but he had made peace with his decision.



‘So many people think they know why I did what I did or what I was thinking or why I made my choice. And almost without exception they’re wrong,’ he said. ‘There’s essentially a public avatar that’s Adrian Lamo that they’re looking at, and then there’s me. And I can’t be upset about what they think of something that isn’t me.’