Report: Two Suicides Associated With Ashley Madison Leak

As the fallout continues following the massive hacking of Ashley Madison — a website that helps facilitate extramarital affairs — Canadian police have announced unconfirmed reports that two of the website's clients took their own lives after personal details were leaked.

The Toronto Police Department held a press conference on Monday, announcing this purported development and claiming that hackers' actions are illegal and "won't be tolerated," but giving sparse details about the potential suicides, CBC News reported.

"As of this morning, we have two unconfirmed reports of suicides that are associated because of the leak of Ashley Madison customers profiles," Staff Supt. Bryce Evans said during the event.

Image source: AshleyMadison.com

He added "This hack is one of the largest data breaches in the world. Your actions are illegal and won't be tolerated."

Avid Life Media, the Toronto-based parent company of Ashley Madison, is offering a $500,000 reward for information that would lead to an arrest of the hackers behind the illegal acts.

"This aint' fun and games anymore, this is reality, this is affecting all of us," Evans said. "The social impact behind this leak, we're talking about families, we're talking about children, we're talking about wives, their male partners. It's going to have impacts on their lives.''

The Daily Mail reported on Monday that there could actually be three potential suicides as a result of the hacking, explaining that a San Antonio police captain reportedly died last week from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, though there is not yet confirmation as to whether the death was related to the hacking.

The San Antonio Express-News reported last week that three email addresses among the tens of millions registered to Ashley Madison did belong to city employees, with one of them allegedly belonging to a police captain.

Ashley Madison doesn't mandate email verification for individuals who do not pay into the service, leaving the possibility open that some email addresses have been registered without the knowledge of the individuals associated with those accounts.

These developments come after a number of high-profile individuals, including former reality star Josh Duggar have been accused of using the service, with their personal information surfacing in the hack.

Watch the Toronto Police Department's press conference in its entirety below:

Duggar released a statement last week claiming that he has been “the biggest hypocrite ever” and pleaded for public forgiveness, though he did not directly name or address Ashley Madison.

"I have been the biggest hypocrite ever," he said. "While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the internet and this became a secret addiction and I became unfaithful to my wife."

 (H/T: CBC News)

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