Adi Lederman, 39, of Tel Aviv is the Israeli arrested yesterday on suspicion of hacking the computers of several international artists, among them that of pop queen Madonna, Channel 2 News reports. Lederman is suspected of stealing new songs that had not yet been published and trading in them on the Internet for cash.

Today, the court decided to release Lederman to ten days house arrest. The police requested a delay in implementing the decision.

"This is an investigation in the very early stages," said Adv. Efrat Nahmani-Bar, the lawyer appointed to defend Lederman on behalf of the Public Defender's Office. "The suspect denies the allegations. To the best of our knowledge there is no evidence connecting him directly to what happened. We believe that within a short time the police too will realize that they have caught the wrong person."

Lederman had an audition three years ago for the tenth season of television show "Kochav Nolad" ("A Star is Born") but he was rejected at the first stage. He presented himself as being 28 years old, but the police who arrested him yesterday said he was born in 1976, so that he was 36 at the time of the audition.

Responding to Lederman's arrest, Madonna wrote on her Facebook page, "I am profoundly grateful to the FBI, the Israeli Police investigators and anyone else who helped lead to the arrest of this hacker. Like any citizen, I have the right to privacy. This invasion into my life - creatively, professionally, and personally remains a deeply devastating and hurtful experience, as it must be for all artists who are victims of this type of crime."

Lederman was arrested yesterday morning after a complex international covert investigation over the past few months, involving the cyber unit of the Lahav 433 division of the Israel Police, in cooperation with the FBI.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 22, 2015

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