Overview
- BBC reporter Joe Tidy said Thursday that Arion Kurtaj has been released from the secure psychiatric hospital where he was held and transferred to a normal prison to await a retrial scheduled for November 2026.
- A UK court previously found Kurtaj responsible for multiple high‑profile breaches as part of the Lapsus$ group, including the 2022 leak of about 90 Grand Theft Auto 6 videos.
- Rockstar told the court the 2022 intrusion was carried out from a Travelodge room using an Amazon Firestick, a phone and the hotel TV, and it cost the company roughly $5 million and thousands of staff hours to remediate.
- A 2023 psychiatric assessment diagnosed Kurtaj with 'acute autism' and said he remained 'highly motivated' to return to cybercrime, which led a judge to order indefinite detention in a secure hospital and limited the original jury to deciding only whether he committed the acts.
- The move back to prison raises practical and legal questions about retrying someone earlier deemed unfit, and it underscores broader risks from low‑cost hacking tools and organised groups targeting large tech and game companies.