Estonian citizen Sergei Tsurikov, whom investigators believe to be the organizer of the hack of the RBS WorldPay payment system (a division of Royal Bank of Scotland), has been extradited to the U.S. court, according to the Associated Press.
On Aug. 6, the U.S. Justice Department announced that Tsurikov, 26, was extradited from Estonia to the United States, where he faces charges of stealing $9.4 million by illegally breaking into the RBS WorldPay payment system.
An Atlanta court has already held a preliminary hearing for Tsurikov, during which the hacker pleaded completely innocent. The court authorized Tsurikov’s detention.
According to the investigation, Tsurikov together with Russian citizen Victor Pleshchuk, Moldovan citizen Oleg Kovelin and a certain “hacker 3” on November 8, 2008 illegally penetrated the network of the processing center RBS WorldPay, located in Atlanta.
The hackers gained access to RBS WorldPay customers’ payroll card information. The attackers made copies of these cards, significantly inflating the cash withdrawal limit on them. Then, using the copies of the cards, the hackers’ accomplices withdrew more than $9.4 million from ATMs around the world within 12 hours. More than 2,100 ATMs in 280 cities around the world were used for the theft, the U.S. Justice Department said.
Sergei Tsurikov and Oleg Kovelin were detained in November 2009 as a result of a joint operation by the FBI and Estonian police. At the same time, Estonian law enforcement agencies found that the hackers were assisted in withdrawing money from ATMs by Estonian citizens Igor Grudizhev, Ronald Choi, Evelyn Choi and Mikhail Evgenov.
Russian Viktor Pleshchuk was detained in March 2010. Pleshchuk was charged with grand theft, unauthorized access to computer information and unlawful obtaining of information constituting bank secrecy. In early August, it became known that Pleshchuk concluded a pre-trial agreement with the investigation, his case was separated into a separate proceeding and will be considered under special procedure.
In the U.S. Tsurikov is charged with several counts of fraud with the use of electronic means of communication and computer fraud. On one count alone, Tsurikov faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. In addition, the court could sentence him to a fine of up to $3.5 million dollars. Similar charges have been brought in absentia against Pleshchuk, Kovelin and “hacker 3,” who are still outside the jurisdiction of the U.S. court.
U.S. law enforcement agencies also brought charges in absentia against Igor Grudizhev, Ronald Tsoi, Evelina Tsoi and Mikhail Evgenov. Each of them faces at least 15 years in prison and a fine of up to 250 thousand dollars. The US Department of Justice, reporting on Tsurikov’s extradition, expressed hope that the remaining defendants in the RBS WorldPay hacking case would be brought before an American court in the near future.
Source: https://lenta.ru/news/2010/08/07/tsurikov/