Julian Assange recruited a teenager to hack into the computer of a former WikiLeaks associate and delete messages relating to him, allegations filed against him by the US have claimed.The activist today lost a last-ditch legal bid to have his extradition case at the Old Bailey delayed because of the fresh ’11th hour’ allegations as his lawyers complained they were ‘abnormal and unfair’.Prosecutors claim Assange, 49, who appeared in court for his hearing, met the then 17-year-old in 2010 in Iceland, who gave him data stolen from a bank.
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According to an updated opening document, submitted by the US but not outlined by representatives in the Old Bailey on Monday, Assange later directed the teenager to target a former WikiLeaks associate.’In September 2010, according to a human source, and as corroborated by the records of online chats between Mr Assange and that source, Mr Assange directed Teenager to hack into the computer of an individual formerly associated with WikiLeaks and delete chat logs containing statements of Mr Assange,’ the document said.
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Julian Assange, pictured in May 2019, faces 18 charges in the US – including plotting to hack computers and conspiring to obtain and disclose national defence information’When Teenager asked how that could be done, Mr Assange wrote that the former WikiLeaks associate could “be fooled into downloading a trojan”, referring to malicious software, and then asked Teenager what operating system the former WikiLeaks associate used.’Defence lawyers said Teenager was previously referred to in court documents as ‘Iceland1’ and was convicted in Iceland of fraud, theft, and impersonating Assange.Mark Summers QC told the court: ‘The FBI were kicked out of Iceland by the Icelandic authorities because it was thought they were using Teenager to frame Mr Assange.’The fresh allegations relating to the teenager form part of a new indictment against Assange lodged in June, which supersedes the previous 18-count indictment in the case, although the charges remain the same.He and others at WikiLeaks are alleged to have recruited and agreed with hackers to commit computer intrusion between 2007 and 2015 using the organisation’s ‘Most Wanted Leaks’ – a ‘wish list’ including US military and intelligence documents up to the ‘Secret’ level.The new allegations include claims a television network was hacked days after it aired a documentary about WikiLeaks, which included claims Assange intentionally risked the lives of named sources.
John Shipton, Mr Assange’s father, was seen arriving at the Old Bailey today ahead of his son’s extradition hearing