A doodle by Bill Clinton, hacked and leaked by Guccifer in 2013

The Romanian hacker known as Guccifer (real name: Marcel Lazăr Lehel) gained infamy in 2013 after hacking the email accounts of several prominent American political figures, including Colin Powell and Clinton-confidant Sydney Blumenthal. Now, his homeland is handing him over.

According to Romanian news site EVZ.ro, the Romanian high court has approved an extradition request from the United States government. Reuters has confirmed the report:

Romania’s top court approved a request by U.S. authorities to extradite a convicted hacker known as Guccifer for prosecution, a Bucharest-based prosecuting source told Reuters.

“The court approved an 18-month temporary extradition to America for the hacker. This follows a request made by U.S. authorities.”

Email accounts breached by Guccifer gave the world a look at the artistic pursuits of George W. Bush, the private life of Colin Powell, a lot of conspiratorial rambling about a global new world order. Most importantly (by way of Blumenthal’s leaked outbox), Guccifer was the first source to ever reveal the HDR22@clintonemail.com account that Hillary Clinton was using in secret. Guccifer’s peek into the account of one of Clinton’s most prodigious email partners could be of great interest to the FBI, currently investigating her use of the covert server.

Guccifer is already serving a four year sentence in Romania. I’ve reached out to the FBI and DOJ and will update this post if they provide any comment.

Contact the author at biddle@gawker.com.
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