The United States has charged an Iranian man with hacking into HBO and trying to extort $6 million in digital currency from the U.S. television network.
U.S. prosecutors accuse Behzad Mesri of stealing scripts and plot summaries for unaired episodes of the Game Of Thrones TV series, and unaired episodes of other shows including the Curb Your Enthusiasm comedy series.
Prosecutors said Mesri threatened to destroy data on HBO's computer system or release the stolen material unless he received $6 million in Bitcoin.
Behzad, who remains at large, faces seven counts in the United States, including wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and four counts of computer fraud.
U.S. federal prosecutors allege that Mesri leaked some of the stolen data on the Internet.
He is also accused by U.S. authorities of previously conducting computer attacks for the Iranian military that targeted nuclear software systems and Israeli infrastructure.
U.S. prosecutors also say he was a member of the Iranian-based Turk Black Hat Security hacking group that targeted hundreds of websites in the United States and around the world.