An aspiring singer who once auditioned for Israel's top TV song competition was sentenced Thursday to 14 months in prison after he was convicted of stealing and selling unreleased songs by international pop star Madonna. Adi Lederman, a Tel Aviv resident in his late 30s, was also fined 15,000 shekels ($3,900) after confessing to the charges in a plea deal. Lederman was arrested earlier this year on charges that he had hacked into the email and cloud accounts of people close to Madonna and then stole and sold her songs. According to court papers, Lederman sold demo tracks from Madonna's album "Rebel Heart" to two buyers at $300 each, after copying the files from cloud accounts whose passwords he obtained after hacking email accounts used by Madonna's musical director Kevin Antunes, talent manager Guy Oseary and two other people. Lederman also obtained parts of Madonna's work diary. "The ease with which crimes such as this can be committed by those who have skills in the field, such as the accused, require an appropriate punitive response that has a deterrent and uncompromising message," the court said in a statement. Arguing for leniency, Lederman's lawyer told the court that his client was "not someone with a criminal mentality, but rather, a very fired-up and impassioned collector who went too far." Lederman had health problems, said the lawyer, declining to detail these for the court record out of privacy concerns. The pop queen urged her fans not to listen to the stolen copies that had surfaced, writing on Instagram: "I have been violated as a human and an artist." She later released six songs, calling them an "early Christmas gift" for fans. Madonna has long claimed a special bond with Israel. The diva has made personal pilgrimages to the country and practices Kabbalah, a form of Jewish mysticism. She launched her 2012 "MDNA" tour in Israel. The investigation into Lederman's activities began after Madonna's representative in Israel lodged a complaint. The investigation was coordinated with the FBI. When he auditioned for the Israeli reality show "A Star is Born" in 2012, Lederman was asked by one of the show's judges what he did for a living and responded: "Mainly wasting my life, it seems, because I'm told that I should be on stage." He sang Stevie Wonder's "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing."
Israeli sentenced to 14 months for stealing Madonna's songs
Adi Lederman, an aspiring singer, confessed that he hacked the emails of people linked to the international pop star and stole and sold her songs • Madonna: I have been violated as a human and an artist.
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