Not being in the USA doesn't mean this could not happen either in a more closed environment, in the UK this type of stuff isn't permissible but in the past Police and the press were often getting into the bedsheets with private investigators who would then buy information to sell news stories. Such as tapping the cellphone of a murdered child to get voicemails - this is the one that broke the camel's back.

I'm a national and there is so many investigations/backgrounds to it that I still do not have a full scope of the events myself.

Here is a good background on that, even for how much it is - it is out of date: https://brown-moses.blogspot.com/2012/06/hackgate-for-beginners-whos-who-key.html

Edit: Wrong link, this is the REAL index: https://brown-moses.blogspot.com/2012/05/hackgate-for-beginner-index.html