An enterprising hacking ring has reportedly stolen nude pics and videos from more than 50 female celebrities, including Vanessa Hudgens, Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman, and the FBI is on the case. They've also been targeting sports stars and politicians. (Oh, boy.) But who's the mysterious "ringleader?" We've dug up some possible clues.

The infamous Parisian celebrity nude pic blogger DeepAtSea, who recently posted some of these pictures, tells us the person behind the spree is a hacker named "Gook." DeepAtSea was browsing the message board 4chan when he came across Gook boasting about the celebrity hacks. He sent an email to Gook out of "stupid curiosity." "I wanted to know what his motivation [was] and if he knew my blog," DeepAtSea told us in an email. Gook "responded that he didn't know my blog. I asked him if he was afraid to go to jail—he said no."

DeepAtSea says he wants to shoot down speculation that he's in cahoots with the celebrity hacker, stirred up when The Daily wrote about how he had posted the pictures, bragged about being in touch with the hacker, then mysteriously deleted his blog. "I'm just a blogger who loves celebrities… who reposts pictures, mag scans and videos that i find on the net," DeepatSea wrote in a blog post. He told us that he found the nude pictures he posted of The Secret Life of the American Teenager actress Renee Olstead on 4chan, and the pictures of Disney star Vanessa Hudgens on a now-deleted Flickr account named "Sweetmelodies." It seems the hacker is gradually distributing his pictures via the grass roots, rather than selling them to blogs.

As for why DeepatSea disappeared: "if someone like you, is accuse of being a criminal, what would you do?" (DeepatSea is back at a new address.) Anyone know anything about Gook? Who knows which legislators in what stages of undress he's about to unleash on the world. Drop us a line: tips@gawker.com

[Images via Getty]