A huge Russian hacker pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Hartford, Connecticut today to four counts related to cybercrime, and a significant delay in sentencing may mean he has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
Levashov pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny to one count of causing intentional damage to a protected computer, one count of conspiracy, one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
There’s indication that prosecutors may consider the hacker, Peter Levashov, a useful guide to a broader world of cybercrime. He isn’t scheduled to be sentenced for almost a year, the sort of delay that often suggests a detainee may be cooperating with prosecutors to gain a lighter sentence.
Levashov, who was extradited earlier this year from Spain, was accused of stealing users’ personal information and passwords in an effort to remotely control computers that made up his so-called Kelihos botnet ...
There are tantalizing suggestions that Levashov, 38, may have more to offer beyond the crimes he’s admitted. The U.S. pursued Levashov, who’s also known as Peter Severa, for more than a decade before he was detained in Spain in April 2017. Arguing against his extradition, Levashov claimed he wouldn’t get a fair trial in the U.S. considering his history: He said he was a military officer who worked for a decade for the ruling party of Russian President Vladimir Putin, collecting information on opposition parties, RIA Novosti reported at the time. The party’s press office called Levashov’s claim “nonsense."
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Another breakthrough for U.S. prosecutors came last week, with the announcement that they’d gained custody of a Russian they’d chased for years, Andrei Tyurin. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Tyurin was the hacking brains behind attacks several years ago on U.S. financial and information firms, which included JPMorgan Chase & Co., Fidelity Investments, Dow Jones & Co., E*Trade Financial Corp. Tyurin was extradited from the republic of Georgia on Sept. 7 and pleaded not guilty in Manhattan that afternoon.
Yevgeny Nikulin, a Russian who is accused of a hack of LinkedIn and Dropbox, awaits trial in San Francisco after being extradited from the Czech Republic.
Greece’s Supreme Court is hearing arguments over competing claims to extradite another Russian, Alexander Vinnik, to the U.S., France or Russia. U.S. prosecutors allege that Vinnik oversaw a bitcoin exchange that was used to launder criminal proceeds -- and which a cybersleuthing firm says was used by Russian government hackers accused of stealing Democrats’ emails.
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“Cooperation is rarely verbal, but you’ll have these detained hackers in the lab with federal agents helping them dig up and mine for data and evidence to bring down others. This happens when they see a weakness in their own case,” [a leading attorney for eastern European hackers in the U.S., Arkady] Bukh, said.
Russian Spam King Pleads Guilty in Win for U.S. (Bloomberg Politics)
Russian National Who Operated Kelihos Botnet Pleads Guilty to Fraud, Conspiracy, Computer Crime and Identity Theft Offenses (Justice Department)