Oleg Nikolaenko, suspected of creating the Mega-D network, may plead guilty.
Oleg Nikolaenko, who is considered in the United States to be the organizer of the Mega-D zombie network and the world’s “king of spam,” may plead guilty, sources say. The lawyers will insist on a sanction in the form of a $250,000 fine. This is an insignificant sum for an industry that earns $50,000 an hour, programmers say.
Oleg Nikolaenko, accused by U.S. authorities of creating one of the world’s largest spam networks, may plead guilty.
“The parties are making every effort to resolve the issues before the trial on the merits,” RIA ‘Novosti’ quoted court materials as saying. The closest hearing is scheduled for February 1.
The law firm Bukh & Associates, which is run by Nikolaenko’s Lawyer Bukh – Arkady Bukh – could not be contacted.
Nikolaenko, 23, is the “king of spam”: this is how he was characterized by the American press. He was arrested in November 2010.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, his Mega-D spam network, also known as Ozdok (started in 2006), had almost 510,000 infected computers around the world and sent about 10 billion messages daily – more than 32% of the world’s e-mail spam. It was partially disarmed by the American network security company FireEye – thanks to numerous market participants and organizations that counteract network crime, the network’s main control channels and internal links used to send spam to infected machines were destroyed. The level of spam activity on the network then dropped to about 17% of international spam.
The FBI accused Nikolaenko not only of violating anti-spam laws, but also of “aiding and abetting mail fraud”: Mega-D was used to send billions of e-mails advertising fake Rolex watches, offers to buy fake certificates and prescriptions, illegal “herbal remedies” and even narcotics.
U.S. law enforcement authorities came upon Nikolaenko after two other spammers, Jody Smith and Lance Atkinson, were arrested in the United States.
They provided investigators with details of their contacts with Nikolaenko, who used the nickname “Docent” online. Atkinson told investigators that “all of the largest links in the spam network are in Russia,” with one person running them.
According to the FBI, Nikolaenko received $459,000 from Atkinson. “This amount, essentially earned from online fraud, is only the small part that we know about,” FBI officials stated, suggesting that the spam network’s earnings were many times larger.
A grand jury opinion in federal court in the Eastern District of Wisconsin said Nikolaenko tampered with information in the e-mails and initiated their sending to recipients. At a second pretrial meeting, the prosecution indicated it intended to add new counts against Nikolaenko.
Nikolaenko had previously pleaded not guilty. If convicted, the spammer faces up to three years in prison or a $250,000 fine.
“In the most unfortunate circumstances for Nikolaenko, his lawyer will reduce the case to a fine, as $250 thousand is a significant amount, but quite manageable,” – SearchInform expert Nikolai Alekseev believes.
According to his estimation, spammers can earn up to $50 thousand per hour, so “such a fine will hardly shake the financial well-being of the accused.” “For him, the main tragedy was the loss of control over the botnet,” the specialist emphasizes. – Since Mega-D’s control center has been destroyed, the spammer network has been significantly weakened.”
According to Sergey Patrakeev, a senior lawyer at Lidings law firm, if Nikolayenko’s case were considered in Russia, it would be reduced to an administrative offense. “Criminal law does not yet cover spam mailing, and the violations would most likely be considered a violation of advertising law,” the lawyer said.
Source: https://www.gazeta.ru/business/2012/01/12/3960529.shtml