To: Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers
From: Miley Cyrus
Re: Just two months after bubblegum pop sensation Miley Cyrus horrified parents nationwide with a "provocative" photo spread in the June 2008 issue of Vanity Fair, a series of even racier photos surfaced on the Internet showing the 15-year-old in various states of undress. Rumors circulated that the snapshots were intended for fellow squeaky-clean Disney star (and former beau) Nick Jonas. The pics found their way onto the World Wide Web thanks to 19-year-old hacker Josh Holly, who, after failing to sell them to TMZ, had the good sense to post them himself, then publicly brag about his online rabble-rousing on various message boards and with radio stations before reaching out to Wired magazine in case they might want to write a profile about him. Instead, the ill-conceived p.r. blitz earned Holly a visit from the FBI. He later confessed to hacking the MySpace and e-mail accounts of numerous stars, including Rihanna, Seth Rogen and the members of punk group Fall Out Boy, in an elaborate spamming scheme that earned him more than $100,000.
Excerpt: I might not be leaking the pics, due to the fact of all the hate male [sic]. I want to clear up that I DO NOT hate Miley. The reason I leak these is because that's what people want to see. I feel kinda bad, cause I do know I kinda messed up her career a little. — Holly, in a blog post agonizing over whether he should leak the photos
See the top 10 scandals of 2008: Miley Cyrus' Vanity Fair photos.