New reports suggest that Arion Kurtaj, the teenage hacker who leaked dozens of Grand Theft Auto 6 videos in 2022, has been released from a secure hospital and transferred to a standard prison in the UK. Kurtaj famously hacked Rockstar Games and accessed Grand Theft Auto 6‘s confidential files while awaiting trial for his other cybercrime offenses.
In September 2022, Arion Kurtaj, a key member of the hacker group Lapsus$, was awaiting trial for previous cybercrimes in a protected hotel room. Since his laptop and phone were confiscated, he bought an Amazon Fire Stick and used his hotel room’s TV to access a virtual server and breach Rockstar Games. He was found guilty in 2023, but psychiatrists determined that the teenage GTA 6 hacker was unfit to stand trial due to severe autism, so he was ordered to remain in a secure hospital indefinitely.
GTA 6 Hacker to Face Conventional Criminal Trial in November
NEW: I can finally report that the GTA6 hacker Arion Kurtaj is out of the secure hospital he was sent to and now in a normal prison awaiting retrial. Kurtaj was a key member of the teen hacking gang Lapsus$ and was given an indefinite hospital order due to his severe autism diagnosis. When he was..
— Joe Tidy BBC News (@joetidy.bsky.social) July 14, 2026 at 6:08 PM
According to BBC’s Joey Tidy, Arion Kurtaj is no longer being held in a secure hospital and has been transferred to a normal prison. Ironically, he is set to face trial in November, the same month GTA 6 will be released. Tidy says, “I have been trying to get this information confirmed with police for weeks after images of Kurtaj apparently posting on Snapchat from prison began circulating online.” However, the police would not confirm the information, and reporting restrictions had hindered the process. According to Tidy, the High Court judge lifted the reporting restrictions after it was requested.
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Kurtaj showed a talent for hacking from a very young age when he started using cheats in games like Minecraft. By the age of 17, he had already breached several high-profile companies, including Ubisoft and Uber. However, his most infamous act was infiltrating Rockstar Games’ Slack and allegedly accessing the source code for the company’s highly anticipated game, GTA 6. During Kurtaj’s initial court hearing, it was stated that he “continued to express the intent to return to cybercrime as soon as possible. He is highly motivated” (via BBC).
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Credit: BBC -
Image via Rockstar Games -
Image via Rockstar Games
It remains to be seen how the sentencing will proceed for Kurtaj, who should be in his 20s now. He will most likely use the same defense as in his previous hearings and argue that he should avoid a harsh sentence due to his “severe autism.” However, the fact that he has been moved out of the secure hospital could signal that the court may be ready to reject this defense and impose a custodial sentence or other penalties.
While Arion Kurtaj’s 2022 act has been considered one of the worst data leaks in Rockstar Games’ history, the company has continued to face similar attempts. In April 2026, for example, another hacker group called ShinyHunters released a large amount of legal and financial data after breaching Rockstar Games’ cloud services.
There was also a short gameplay snippet circulating online for a while that was reportedly posted by an anonymous Rockstar Games employee, showing some never-before-seen aspects of GTA 6‘s gameplay. And it seems unlikely that hackers and leakers will leave Rockstar alone before it finally releases its anticipated AAA game on November 19, 2026.
- Released
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November 19, 2026
- ESRB
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Rating Pending – Likely Mature 17+
