McKayla Maroney caught up in nude stolen photos was under age when snaps taken

A gold medal-winning US gymnast caught up in the celebrity stolen photograph scandal is suing sites which published them saying she was a minor at the time they were taken.

McKayla Maroney, who is now 18, is among a number of stars whose private naked photographs appeared on social networking and pornography sites after they were obtained by an unknown hacker.

Her lawyers have now issued legal letters demanding that the images be removed as she was underage at the time they were taken, meaning they constitute child pornography.

Porn.com, which is among the sites contacted by Maroney's attorney, told TMZ it had complied as soon it received the letter.

Fellow gymnasts and friends of Maroney, who won the team gold at the London 2012 Games, have told at their distress that she had fallen victim to the hacker, who is said to have stolen the photographs of more than 100 stars including actress Jennifer Lawrence and model Kate Upton.

Teammate Aly Raisman said: “'This scandal is not a joke and it is upsetting that an invasion of privacy results in entertainment for some.

"Please respect the fact that the photos were private and not for the whole world to see. My heart is broken for the women who were violated.”

On Twitter, Maroney thanked her fans for their support, saying: “shout out to my fans for defending me all day long.. even when things got weird u stood by me. and that meant the world”.

A second hacking victim, MTV actress Liz Lee, has said that she too was underage when leaked photographs of her were taken by an ex-boyfriend in 2007. In her case she was only 16. It is considered illegal for a website to display nude photographs of anyone under the age of 18.

The social networking site Reddit, which has featured many of the stolen celebrity photographs, confirmed that it would remove the photographs of both Maroney and Lee.

A moderator going by the name SickorSane, wrote: “'Effective immediately: any images/galleries/torrents/mega dumps/ etc. containing Mckayla Maroney or Liz Lee will be immediately removed due to the fact that they were underage (<18) in the photos taken.”

Maroney’s lawyers have warned sites that she owns the copyright to the photographs - an argument which Lawrence is also using in an attempt to get her nude pictures removed from the internet.

TMZ reported, however, that Porn.com, which was among the sites contacted by the actress’s legal team, has said that as the photographs appear not to have been taken by Lawrence herself, the copyright is not hers.

The site is demanding proof that she holds the copyright, or to be provided with the identity of the person who took the snaps, who it says would automatically hold the legal ownership, so it can negotiate with them.

Meanwhile, the Prostate Cancer Foundation has rejected donations from reddit which the site had invited users to make in Lawrence’s name, saying it did not condone the leaking of her photographs.

It a statement, the Foundation said: “We would never condone raising funds for cancer research in this manner. Out of respect for everyone involved and in keeping with our own standards, we are returning all donations that resulted from this post.” (Telegraph.)