Arion Kurtaj

Lapsus$ member behind the September 2022 GTA 6 breach; given an indefinite hospital order in 2023, moved to prison in 2026 with a retrial listed for November.

Affiliation
Lapsus$
Forum handle
teapotuberhacker
2022 breach
~90 clips; GTA V source code
December 2023
Indefinite hospital order
July 2026
Moved to prison; retrial listed November 2026
2026 sourcing
Single BBC journalist post (Joe Tidy)

Arion Kurtaj is the member of the Lapsus$ group responsible for the September 2022 Grand Theft Auto VI breach, the largest leak in the game's history and the only one Rockstar has confirmed as genuine.

The 2022 breach

While on bail for an earlier hack and under police protection in a hotel, Kurtaj breached Rockstar using an Amazon Fire TV Stick, a hotel television and a phone. Posting as "teapotuberhacker" on GTAForums, he released roughly 90 videos and screenshots of the game in development, published GTA V source code, and claimed responsibility for an Uber breach days earlier. The full story is covered at the 2022 leak, and the footage is graded against the finished marketing in the leak accuracy scorecard.

Legal proceedings

Kurtaj was found unfit to stand trial due to acute autism. Rather than delivering a conventional verdict, a jury was asked to determine whether he had committed the acts and found that he had, and in December 2023 he received an indefinite hospital order. The court noted at the time that he remained highly motivated and continued to express an intention to return to cybercrime.

2026 developments

Reporting from July 2026 states that Kurtaj has been moved from secure hospital detention to a standard prison after medical professionals assessed him as fit to stand trial, with a retrial listed for November 2026. Every published account traces back to a single Bluesky post by BBC cyber correspondent Joe Tidy on July 14, 2026, the day a High Court judge lifted reporting restrictions. No exact retrial date, court or charge list has been published, and nothing in the reporting suggests Kurtaj has access to any current GTA 6 material or that the retrial creates any fresh leak risk.

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