GTA 6 leaker trolls internet straight from prison after long hospital stay

Arion Kurtaj claims to have access to a burner phone

After unleashing an unprecedented leak of Grand Theft Auto 6 in 2023, the alleged hacker behind it, Arion Kurtaj, was put under indefinite custody at a secure hospital in the UK. Now, over two years later, Kurtaj has been released and sent back to prison — where he awaits trial.

Kurtaj, who was 18 at the time of the leak, gained notoriety after sharing 90 videos of an early development build of Grand Theft Auto 6. The videos amounted to 50 minutes of gameplay, none of which were ever meant to be seen by the public. The footage, which has since been pulled down by publisher Take-Two Interactive, depicted everything from shooting, driving, police chases, and even a mission that took place in a strip club. Many of the elements contained in the leak were unfinished, and could only be observed or experienced via a debug menu.

Shortly before his arrest in 2023, Kurtaj was already out on bail after an earlier hack involving chip manufacturer Nvidia. Kurtaj infiltrated Rockstar from a hotel room with only an Amazon Fire Stick, authorities said. Once he gained access, Kurtaj reportedly identified himself as an "attacker" within Rockstar's internal Slack. He allegedly threatened to release the game's source code unless Rockstar contacted him. Kurtaj, who was part of a hacking group called Lapsus$, did not act alone. At least one other underage hacker was detained and sent to a youth rehabilitation center.

The leak was significant enough that it seemed to play a part in Rockstar's decision to reveal the game in late 2023, which at the time had not yet been officially announced. Rockstar also stated that the hack cost the company $5 million.

After he was charged with 12 crimes, Kurtaj's doctors deemed him unfit to stand trial. Kurtaj was diagnosed with "acute autism" and reportedly expressed a desire to resume his hacking activities. As a result, Kurtaj was confined to the hospital until he was deemed to "no longer be a danger."

Since then, Kurtaj has apparently met the requirements to be released from said hospital, according to BBC reporter Joe Tidy. Tidy's post comes months after posts seemingly written by Kurtaj have been swirling around the internet. As such, and despite recent reports sharing the news, the exact timeline of when Kurtaj actually returned to prison is unclear.

In these social media posts, Kurtaj described his previous confinement as an "amazing" time. He also called the charges against him "bullshit."

"I was able to access the community, go fishing, cook my own food, go shopping," the messages, which were apparently written via a burner Nokia phone, read. "3 hours shop each week, 8 hours fishing a week."

Kurtaj's posts also insist that his associates do have access to GTA 6's source code, but are waiting for the game to come out before revealing the sensitive information. While these allegations are difficult to verify, what's clear is that Kurtaj still has a penchant for stirring the pot, even as he awaits trial.