Back in December of 2014, Israeli hacker Adi Lederman released onto the world wide web a number of demos and versions-in-progress from Madonna’s at-the-time-upcoming album Rebel Heart. (You remember, the album that arrived with bad Instagram art and that you probably listened to half of one time?) Lederman was arrested in January of this year after a lengthy investigation handled in tandem by the FBI and Israeli Police forces. Now, he’s learned what happens when you mess with Madge, having received a 14-month prison sentence.
Lederman was found guilty of computer trespassing, copyright infringement, prohibited secret monitoring, and obstructing investigation. According to court documents obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, he had hacked into the cloud accounts of several associates of Madonna as well as her manager, and had in fact previously stolen a song from Madonna in 2012, which he sold rather than leaking himself. He’s also been fined NIS 15,000 (which equates to $4,000 US).
As a result of the leak, Madonna scrambled to put out the material that was closest to being finished, releasing nearly half of the album early. She eventually released the entire album months ahead of schedule. In the end, Rebel Heart wasn’t a terribly good album, albeit a bit rushed, and is in fact Madonna’s worst selling record of the last 20 years.
God bless her try-hard soul, though; she still manages to do cool things, like tapping Amy Schumer to open her three New York dates on the Rebel Heart tour.
