The latest stunning allegations in the Rob Ford scandal come courtesy of VICE Magazine, which alleges thatthe Mayor's office hired a hacker to destroythe nowinfamous crack tape.

"In late July, an anonymous source approached VICE with claims that he had been hired by Amin Massoudi, the communications director for troubled Toronto mayor Rob Ford, to hack into a website. More specifically the source... said he was asked by Amin to crack the password of a private online directory that allegedly contained a digital copy of the now infamous footage of Mayor Ford smoking a substance out of a crack pipe. Rob Ford has, up until very recently, publicly doubted the existence of the video."

VICE's allegations are based on a claimed correspondence with the hacker, who supplied the publication a series of emails that he/she claims to have exchanged with Massoudi. It's impossible to verify with certainty that the emails were sent by the communications director as he was under the employ of Councillor Doug Ford when they were sent (and thus part of the Councillor's personal files).

The story continues by alleging Ford's inner circle believed the password-protected web server was the last remaining place the videos existed because the cellphone used to make it was "gone."

Ultimately, VICE claims that the hacker wasn't able to delete the heavily encrypted videos from the private server and never received the promised reward.

MORE FORD STORIES FROM TODAY:

• Rob Ford admits he smoked crack cocaine
• Councillors file motion to restrict Rob Ford's powers
• Major Rob Ford protest planned for November 13th
• Doug Ford says police chief Bill Blair should resign

With contributions from Chris Bateman