Twenty-four prisoners had been freed right this moment in a world prisoner swap between Russia and Western nations. Among the many eight Russians repatriated had been a number of convicted cybercriminals. In return, Russia has reportedly launched 16 prisoners, together with Wall Avenue Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and ex-U.S. Marine Paul Whelan.
Among the many extra notable Russian hackers launched within the prisoner swap is Roman Seleznev, 40, who was sentenced in 2017 to 27 years in jail for racketeering convictions tied to a prolonged profession in stealing and promoting fee card information. Seleznev earned this then-record sentence by working a few of the underground’s most bustling marketplaces for stolen card information.
Roman Seleznev, pictured with bundles of money. Picture: US DOJ.
As soon as identified by the hacker handles “Track2,” “Bulba” and “nCux,” Seleznev is the son of Valery Seleznev, a outstanding member of the Russian parliament who is taken into account an ally of Vladimir Putin. U.S. prosecutors confirmed that for years Seleznev stayed a step forward of the regulation by tapping into contacts on the Russian FSB, the successor company to the Soviet KGB, and by periodically altering hacker handles.
However in 2014 Seleznev was captured by U.S. Secret Service brokers, who had zeroed in on Seleznev’s posh trip spot in The Maldives. On the time, the South Asian island nation was a well-liked vacation spot for Jap Europe-based cybercriminals, who seen it as past the attain of U.S. regulation enforcement.
Along with receiving a document jail sentence, Seleznev was ordered to pay greater than $50 million in restitution to his victims. That loss quantity equaled the overall losses inflicted by Seleznev’s numerous carding shops, and different thefts attributed to members of the hacking discussion board carder[.]su, a bustling cybercrime neighborhood of which Seleznev was a number one organizer.
Additionally launched within the prisoner swap was Vladislav Klyushin, a 42-year-old Muscovite sentenced in September 2023 to 9 years in jail for what U.S. prosecutors referred to as a “$93 million hack-to-trade conspiracy.” Klyushin and his crew hacked into firms and used info stolen in these intrusions to make unlawful inventory trades.
Klyushin likewise was arrested whereas vacationing overseas: The Related Press reported that Klyushin was captured in Switzerland after arriving on a personal jet, and simply earlier than he and his celebration had been about to board a helicopter to whisk them to a close-by ski resort.
A passport photograph of Klyushin. Picture: USDOJ.
Klyushin is the proprietor of M-13, a Russian expertise firm that contracts with the Russian authorities. In keeping with prosecutors, M-13 supplied penetration testing and “superior persistent risk (APT) emulation.” As a part of his responsible plea, Klyushin was additionally ordered to forfeit $34 million, and to pay restitution in an quantity that was to be decided.
The U.S. authorities says 4 of Klyushin’s alleged co-conspirators stay at massive, together with Ivan Ermakov, who was amongst 12 Russians charged in 2018 with hacking into key Democratic Celebration e-mail accounts.
Vladimir Dunaev, 40, was one of many masterminds behind the Trickbot trojan, a crimeware-as-a-service platform that for a few years was utilized by Russian cybercrime teams to put in ransomware and siphon information from victims. Duanev was sentenced in January 2024 to 5 years and 4 months in jail.
The fifth convicted Russian despatched again dwelling this week is Maxim Marchenko, 52, who pleaded responsible in February 2024 to illicitly procuring massive portions of U.S.-made microelectronics on behalf of Russian shoppers in help of the battle on Ukraine.
Marchenko admitted establishing various shell firms based mostly in Hong Kong that had been used to accumulate the expertise merchandise which have military-grade functions, equivalent to rifle scopes, evening imaginative and prescient goggles and thermal optics.
Among the many Individuals freed by Russia had been Wall Avenue Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, 32, who has spent the final 16 months in a Russian jail on spying fees. Additionally launched was Alsu Kurmasheva, 47, a Russian American editor for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty who was arrested final 12 months; and Paul Whelan, 54, a former U.S. Marine arrested in 2018 and accused of spying.
The New York Occasions experiences a number of others freed by Russia had been German nationals, together with German Moyzhes, a lawyer who was serving to Russians get hold of residence permits in Germany and different E.U. nations. The Occasions says Slovenia, Norway and Poland launched 4 folks accused of being Russian spies.
Reuters experiences that Germany launched Vadim Krasikov, an FSB colonel serving a life sentence there for murdering an exiled Chechen-Georgian dissident in a Berlin park.
Replace, 8:47 p.m. ET:An earlier model of this story incorrectly reported that one of many Russian hackers launched was the BTC-e co-founder Alexander Vinnik. KrebsOnSecurity was unable to verify his launch. The above story has been edited to mirror that change.
