The FBI seized computers belonging to a Chicago man believed to be connected to last year’s celebrity nude photo hack.
Recently unsealed federal search warrants reveal that the raid took place on Oct. 15, 2014 at the modest brick home of Emilio Herrera on the South Side of Chicago. According to a sworn affidavit by Special Agent Josh Sedowsky of the FBI’s Cybercrimes Unit, someone in the home had been on an iCloud hacking spree, reported Gawker, which has a copy of the documents.
“Based on victim account records obtained from Apple,” Sedowsky wrote in the documents, “one or more computers used at
The affidavit also lists the initials of female celebrities involved in the leak, including “A.S., C.H., H.S., J.M., O.W., A.K., E.B., and A.H.”
TheWrap previously reported that both the FBI and Apple were investigating the leak of a massive trove of nude actress photos that leaked online last year.
The photos — which appeared to have been stolen from the actresses’ iCloud accounts and included shots of Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence, Selena Gomez, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kate Upton and Kirsten Dunst — spread fast, despite a grassroots effort to discourage people from viewing them.
In the raid, the FBI agents left Herrera’s house with multiple computers, a cell phone, storage devices and a Kindle Fire, the search warrant revealed.
Herrera has not yet been charged with any crime, nor is he even considered a suspect at this point, according to Gawker. The origin of another Chicago-based IP address believed to belong to an equally prolific iCloud hacker is also being investigated.
The court order to seal the search warrant expired in May.