George Garofano, the man responsible for leaking private images of Jennifer Lawrence back in 2014, has been sentenced to 8 months behind bars.
The 26-year old will also serve a 3 year period of supervised release, The Guardian reports, following the 8-month sentence.
According to prosecution statements made in court, Garafano obtained and leaked more than 240 private images over an 18-month duration. “In committing this offence,” court statements read, “Mr Garofano acted in complete and utter disregard for the impact on his victims’ lives.”
“Not only did Mr Garofano keep for himself the photographs he stole, he disseminated them to other individuals. He may have also sold them to others to earn ‘extra income’.”
Garafano was one of four men charged in relation to the 2014 hacking controversy, which impacted the lives of countless female victims, including Kirsten Dunst and Kate Upton, whose private images were taken from their iCloud accounts. The other three perpetrators have already received their sentences, ranging from 9-18 months.
“It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime,” Lawrence told Vanity Fair back in 2014. “It is a sexual violation. It’s disgusting.”
“The law needs to be changed, and we need to change. That’s why these websites are responsible. Just the fact that somebody can be sexually exploited and violated, and the first thought that crosses somebody’s mind is to make a profit from it. It’s so beyond me. I just can’t imagine being that detached from humanity. I can’t imagine being that thoughtless and careless and so empty inside.”
Many are left wondering, however, if Garofano’s 8-month sentence is too lenient, considering how many lives were impacted by the offence.
Either way, this sentencing is an important step forward in holding people, predominately male perpetrators, accountable for releasing private images of individuals without their consent.
Image: Getty / Kevork Djansezian
