Lady Gaga. (Stuart C. Wilson/Getty)
A slew of hackers who got into legal firm severs and swiped the private data of Lady Gaga and a host of other celebrities have doubled their ransom money to $42 million, and are threatening to leak information about US president Donald Trump as well as dumping the data onto the dark web.
Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks, based in New York, US, were pillaged of more than 756 gigabytes of data including contracts, settlements, non-disclosure agreements and personal emails by a group of hackers on Tuesday (May 12).
The group, known as “REvil” or “Sodinokibi”, also deleted or encrypted the firm’s backups, insiders said, and Gaga’s legal team is refusing to negotiate with them and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents are investigating.
Moreover, the tension was ratcheted up further, however, after the group doubled its ransom on Friday (May 15) and is threatening to air the president’s “dirty laundry”, said attorney Allen Grubman, according to a source familiar to Page Six.
Hackers who targeted Lady Gaga are now aiming for Donald Trump, source claims.
“His view is, if he paid, the hackers might release the documents anyway,” the source claimed.
“Plus the FBI has stated this hack is considered an act of international terrorism, and we don’t negotiate with terrorists.”
The group issued a chilling message Thursday, the source added. They alleged: “The ransom is now [doubled to] $42,000,000
“The next person we’ll be publishing is Donald Trump. There’s an election going on, and we found a ton of dirty laundry on time.”
They added: “Mr Trump, if you want to stay president, poke a sharp stick at the guys, otherwise, you may forget this ambition forever.
“And to you voters, we can let you know that after such a publication, you certainly don’t want to see him as president.
“The deadline is one week.
“Grubman, we will destroy your company down to the ground if we don’t see the money.”
REvil members posted the statement after dropping information on Lady Gaga on its dark web website. Although, most appeared to be standard industry contracts.
In the ensuing saga has seized the entertainment industry’s top firm – whose star-studded client list includes Madonna, Barbra Streisand, Nicki Minaj, Lizzo, Elton John, Lil Nas X and Mariah Carey.
Others named include Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sofia Vergara, U2 and Drake.
Since the incident, the Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks website has been inactive – scaled back and only showing the firm’s logo.