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Guccifer fesses up to Clinton hacks

Romanian hacker to plead guilty

The US Virginia Eastern District Court has posted a notice for a change of plea hearing set for Wednesday in the case of Marcel Lehel Lazar. Two additional documents were also filed with the court under seal.

It is not yet known which of the nine counts Lazar, aka "Guccifer," will be pleading to, or what the terms of the deal will be. The deal will, however, likely bring Lazar a more lenient sentence. Earlier this year, the FBI hit Lazar with nine counts, including multiple charges of wire fraud and unauthorized access to a computer.

He had previously pled not guilty, though a change in plea has been widely expected after Lazar fessed up earlier this month during media interviews.

Guccifer, a former taxi driver turned hacker, gained notoriety back in 2013 when he laid claim to hacking a personal email server Clinton had reportedly used to send, among other things, official business in her capacity as Secretary of State.

The case kicked off a scandal that continues to follow Clinton well into her campaign for the US Presidency.

Lazar also said he hacked the email addresses of former President George W Bush and former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell. In Bush's case, Guccifer offered proof of his deeds in the form of Bush II's self-portraits.

Other targets Guccifer claimed to have hacked include actors Steve Martin and Mariel Hemingway, writer Kitty Kelley and editor Tina Brown.

Lazar was arrested in Romania in 2014 and later extradited to the US to face the federal charges. Before being sent to the US for trial, he was given a four-year jail sentence by Romanian authorities. ®

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