Thread: Russian lawmaker's son gets 27 years prison in U.S. hacking case

If I were American, I think I'd postpone any trips to Russia for a while...

Fri Apr 21, 2017 | 11:19pm EDT

Russian lawmaker's son gets 27 years prison in U.S. hacking case

The son of a Russian lawmaker was sentenced on Friday by a U.S. federal court to 27 years in prison after being convicted of a cyber assault on thousands of U.S. businesses, marking the longest ever hacking-related sentence in the United States.

Roman Seleznev, 32, was found guilty last year by a jury in Seattle of perpetrating a scheme that prosecutors said involved hacking into point-of-sale computers to steal credit card numbers and caused $169 million in losses to U.S. firms.

The Russian government has maintained that his arrest in 2014 in the Maldives was illegal. It issued a statement on Friday criticizing the sentence and said it believed Seleznev's lawyer planned to appeal.

"We continue to believe that the arrest of the Russian citizen Roman Seleznev, who de facto was kidnapped on the territory of a third country, is unlawful," the Russian Embassy in Washington said in a post on its Facebook page.

Seleznev is the son of Valery Seleznev, a member of the Russian parliament.

The sentence, imposed by Judge Richard A. Jones of the Western District of Washington, followed a decade-long investigation by the U.S. Secret Service.

In a handwritten statement provided by his lawyer, Seleznev said he believed the harsh sentence was a way for the United States government to send a message to Russia's president, Vladimir Putin.

"This message the United States sent today is not the right way to show Vladimir Putin, Russia or any other government in this world how justice works in a democracy," Seleznev wrote in the statement.

Prosecutors said that from October 2009 to October 2013 Seleznev stole credit card numbers from more than 500 U.S. businesses, transferred the data to servers in Virginia, Russia and the Ukraine and eventually sold the information on criminal "carding" websites.

Seleznev faces separate charges pending in federal courts in Nevada and Georgia.

A federal grand jury in Connecticut returned an eight-count indictment charging a Russian national who was arrested earlier this month with operating the Kelihos botnet, a global network of tens of thousands of infected computers, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday.

Russian lawmaker's son gets 27 years prison in U.S. hacking case | Reuters

Israelis probably did it and put it on the Russians, stupid Americans fall for it, classic

No, your the idiot, butterfly - as usual.

learn how to spell

and thanks for reminding me to red you

Originally Posted by Dragonfly

Israelis probably did it , classic

Their cousins own the major banks.

Originally Posted by harrybarracudai

If I were American, I think I'd postpone any trips to Russia for a while...

As a matter of fact, the Russians normally do not stage a retrospect actions, do they? Remember the US expulsion of many Russian diplomats at the end of the year?

Originally Posted by Klondyke

Originally Posted by harrybarracudai

If I were American, I think I'd postpone any trips to Russia for a while...

As a matter of fact, the Russians normally do not stage a retrospect actions, do they? Remember the US expulsion of many Russian diplomats at the end of the year?

They don't eh?

Russia expels US diplomats in tit-for-tat row - BBC News

Born almost dirt-poor in Russia’s Far East, Roman Valerevich Seleznev still turned himself into a multi-millionaire by being one of the best in his field. That field, however, was stealing and selling credit card data.

On Friday, in a Seattle federal courtroom, before a judge sentenced Seleznev to 27 years in prison, his attorney and prosecutors recounted his remarkable rise — and fall.

“His entire life was a series of tragic events,” said his New York attorney, Igor Litvak.

Seleznev’s parents divorced when he was 2, and he and his mother lived in small Vladivostok apartment with four other families. His mother died of alcohol poisoning when he was 17.

As a teen he began to make money by hacking computers, but got robbed and tortured by home invaders. When attempting to reunite with his father in Morocco in 2011, a portion of Seleznev’s skull was blown off in a Marrakesh terrorist bombing in which 20 others died.

He went on to become what investigators and prosecutors described as perhaps the most successful hacker they’ve encountered, which may explain the stocky, lightly bearded Russian’s often amused smile.

As prosecutors put it in charging papers after his arrest, Seleznev “became one of the most revered point-of-sale hackers in the criminal underworld … a market maker whose automated vending sites and tutorials helped grow the market for stolen card data.”

Prosecutors added: “This prosecution is unprecedented. Never before has a criminal engaged in computer fraud of this magnitude been identified, captured, and convicted by an American jury.”

That happened here in August when Seleznev was convicted of 38 counts of stealing and selling credit card data. Prosecutors said he operated a Russian server that he used to install malware on point-of-sale computer systems. The malware would copy the card data and send it to other Seleznev servers in Ukraine and McLean, Va.

Seleznev ultimately confessed and apologized, and his attorney argued that he had cooperated with prosecutors to provide valuable information and names regarding global cyberthefts. But prosecutors said his help was not useful to their investigation; the Justice Department clearly felt it had made a big dent in Russian cyberhacking. In court, a prosecutor described Seleznev as a “Tony Soprano-style mob boss.”

His arrest came July 5, 2014, as he was heading back to Russia after a vacation. He, his girlfriend and their child were passing through security at Male International Airport in the Maldives, which has no extradition treaty with the U.S.

Seleznev was asked to step out of the line and then handed off to U.S. agents, who’d been tracking his faint trail for almost a decade. He was quickly flown to Guam for a hearing. Four flights later, detoured by a hurricane and slowed by two planes with mechanical trouble, he landed in Seattle.

The Russian government was irate. Officials, including Seleznev's father, Valery, a member of Russia's lower house of parliament and an ally of President Vladimir Putin, likened the arrest to the "extraordinary rendition" flights that have been used by the U.S. to kidnap and transport suspected terrorists to “black sites” — secret prisons — overseas.

FBI Director James B. Comey calls such takedowns legal tactics in the war against computer thieves. “It’s too easy for those criminals to think that 'I can sit in my basement halfway around the world and steal everything that matters to an American,'" he told “60 Minutes.” “We want them looking over their shoulders when they're sitting at a keyboard.”

The U.S. also legally eavesdrops on prison conversations, as Seleznev and his father found out after an international phone call last August. Speaking in Russian, Seleznev's father asked, "What can we discuss, your escape plan or what?"

They went on to chat about tampering with a witness and delaying a hearing by staging a medical emergency, according to prosecutors and a transcript of the call.

His father said he had “found some 'magicians'” who were “ready to create a miracle” leading to a fake illness and his son's hospitalization. But with the feds tipped off, the plan never took off.

To carry out his crimes, Seleznev used the aliases “Track2” and “Bulba,” and created automated vending websites where criminals could obtain stolen data, investigators determined.

The data was sold and resold through the underworld. Testimony at Seleznev’s trial revealed that 3,700 financial institutions lost more than $169 million from the scheme, though officials speculated it could be billions. Seleznev, the onetime needy kid from Vladivostok, made millions.

In just two years of reaching across the seas to electronically break into banks, restaurants and credit card companies, he made $17 million, investigators said.

He scored “tens of millions more” in his nearly 25 years of hacking, they figured, but could not trace all his sales and income. He owned two properties in Bali and regularly jetted back and forth to Russia. He bought American muscle cars and took lavish vacations, prosecutors said.

American Express, MasterCard and Visa alone say his electronic entries resulted in a collective loss of at least $35 million. But Seleznev sought the little fish, too. Among the 2 million credit card numbers downloaded and then sold on the black market through Seleznev's operation in recent years, many were obtained by cyberattacks at small businesses including bakeries and dozens of West Cost pizza parlors from Los Angeles to Seattle.

Seleznev’s legal problems are not over. The U.S. is seeking forfeiture of $17 million of his assets. He faces racketeering and conspiracy charges for his alleged cyberheists in Nevada, and is charged in Georgia with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, one count of bank fraud and four counts of wire fraud.

Before his sentencing Friday, Seleznev sent a letter to the court, seeking compassion and recalling his childhood: “Most of the time I was home alone and work hard. I learn myself about computer technology. I have great skill at young age and it was clear I could do great things with my life.”

Times change, said Seattle U.S. Atty. Annette L. Hayes. “Today is a bad day for hackers around the world,” she noted. “The notion that the internet is a Wild West where anything goes is a thing of the past.”

Russian hacker went from poverty to making millions in stolen credit cards. Now he's facing 27 years in prison - LA Times

A self made man. Who said crime doesn't pay.

Originally Posted by sabang

His arrest came July 5, 2014, as he was heading back to Russia after a vacation. He, his girlfriend and their child were passing through security at Male International Airport in the Maldives, which has no extradition treaty with the U.S.

Seleznev was asked to step out of the line and then handed off to U.S. agents, who’d been tracking his faint trail for almost a decade. He was quickly flown to Guam for a hearing. Four flights later, detoured by a hurricane and slowed by two planes with mechanical trouble, he landed in Seattle.

Originally Posted by sabang

FBI Director James B. Comey calls such takedowns legal tactics in the war against computer thieves. “It’s too easy for those criminals to think that 'I can sit in my basement halfway around the world and steal everything that matters to an American,'" he told “60 Minutes.” “We want them looking over their shoulders when they're sitting at a keyboard.”

One wonders when other countries may start similar "legal tactics" when a foreign person presents their boarding pass.

Originally Posted by OhOh

Originally Posted by sabang

His arrest came July 5, 2014, as he was heading back to Russia after a vacation. He, his girlfriend and their child were passing through security at Male International Airport in the Maldives, which has no extradition treaty with the U.S.

Seleznev was asked to step out of the line and then handed off to U.S. agents, who’d been tracking his faint trail for almost a decade. He was quickly flown to Guam for a hearing. Four flights later, detoured by a hurricane and slowed by two planes with mechanical trouble, he landed in Seattle.

Originally Posted by sabang

FBI Director James B. Comey calls such takedowns legal tactics in the war against computer thieves. “It’s too easy for those criminals to think that 'I can sit in my basement halfway around the world and steal everything that matters to an American,'" he told “60 Minutes.” “We want them looking over their shoulders when they're sitting at a keyboard.”

One wonders when other countries may start similar "legal tactics" when a foreign person presents their boarding pass.

Tough fucking shit.

On July 2 last year, the Secret Service got a new tip: Seleznev was visiting a five-star resort in the Maldives, a popular holiday destination for Europeans. They were told that Seleznev picked the Maldives because it did not have an extradition treaty with the U.S.

Agents in Washington wasted no time, contacting officials at the State Department, who had a close relationship with the Maldivian police superintendent. He agreed to help, despite the lack of a treaty.

A day later, a Secret Service agent based in Thailand and another from Hawaii were in the Maldives, drawing up a plan: Local police would arrest Seleznev before he boarded his flight home on the morning of July 5. They would formally expel him from their country and hand him over to the U.S. agents, who would hustle him aboard a private jet bound for the U.S. territory of Guam.

At the last minute the Maldivian police said they required an Interpol “red notice” to grab Seleznev. The Secret Service had avoided uploading such an alert that they were seeking a suspect on criminal charges because Russian authorities were notorious for tipping their citizens to the existence of arrest warrants.

Anticipating the demand, Secret Service agents had drafted a red notice and uploaded it to Interpol as Seleznev was on a seaplane from his resort to the Maldives airport, leaving the Russians no time to act.

Quality fucking work that, nice job. No wonder Vladdy is all pissed off.

Originally Posted by OhOh

One wonders when other countries may start similar "legal tactics" when a foreign person presents their boarding pass.

Indeed. Julian Assange is worried for a very good reason.

In fact :

Sydney, Feb 29, 2012 (AFP) 15:14 IST

US prosecutors have drawn up secret charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a confidential email cited by media today said, as his lawyer demanded Australia start protecting him.

The email is one of a huge number from the US-based global intelligence company Stratfor that the whistleblowing organisation began publishing Monday. Internal correspondence to Stratfor analysts from vice-president of intelligence Fred Burton said: "We have a sealed indictment on Assange," according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The newspaper, which has access to the emails through an investigative partnership with WikiLeaks, said the comment on January 26 last year was made in response to a media report about US investigations targeting WikiLeaks.

The information came with the request to protect it and not publish, the paper said, adding that Burton had close ties to the US intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Assange, an Australian citizen, is awaiting a British Supreme Court decision on his appeal against extradition to Sweden on sexual assault allegations.



http://www.smh.com.au/world/charges-...228-1u14c.html

USA today == USSR in 1970s !!!

the end should come soon

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Originally Posted by Klondyke

Originally Posted by harrybarracudai

If I were American, I think I'd postpone any trips to Russia for a while...

As a matter of fact, the Russians normally do not stage a retrospect actions, do they? Remember the US expulsion of many Russian diplomats at the end of the year?

They don't eh?

Russia expels US diplomats in tit-for-tat row - BBC News

Wednesday 4 January 2017:
Vladimir Putin has invited the children of 35 US diplomats to visit the Kremlin in a provocative stunt aimed at embarrassing the outgoing US president.

The move was designed to rile Barack Obama’s administration after it chose to expel 35 Russian officials from the US amid claims the Kremlin interfered in the US election.

Vladimir Putin invited children of 35 US diplomats to Kremlin for Christmas in latest Barack Obama jibe | The Independent

Originally Posted by Klondyke

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Originally Posted by Klondyke

Originally Posted by harrybarracudai

If I were American, I think I'd postpone any trips to Russia for a while...

As a matter of fact, the Russians normally do not stage a retrospect actions, do they? Remember the US expulsion of many Russian diplomats at the end of the year?

They don't eh?

Russia expels US diplomats in tit-for-tat row - BBC News

Wednesday 4 January 2017:
Vladimir Putin has invited the children of 35 US diplomats to visit the Kremlin in a provocative stunt aimed at embarrassing the outgoing US president.

The move was designed to rile Barack Obama’s administration after it chose to expel 35 Russian officials from the US amid claims the Kremlin interfered in the US election.

Vladimir Putin invited children of 35 US diplomats to Kremlin for Christmas in latest Barack Obama jibe | The Independent

That was nothing more than a Putin publicity stunt.

And certainly not "normal".

"Normal" is, and always has been, tit-for-tat.

Diplomatic expulsions are normally met with reciprocal action, and the stage seemed set for a strong Russian response. In 2001, the George W Bush administration expelled 51 Russian diplomats it said were spies. Russia responded by telling 50 US diplomats to leave Russia.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...s-us-diplomats

Not to mention that this expulsion was ordered by Obama, and when Putin overruled his Foreign Minister, the chief arsehole-in-waiting orange-faced wanker called him "very smart".

The Russians do play don't they.
Trump's out of his league really, in the world of international intigue he's just a big doofus.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Quality fucking work

True, but it was the Thai agent who cracked the Red Notice. One wonders how long it normally takes for a red notice to become valid from the date/time of request.

It is not the hacking they don't like but the theft.

Originally Posted by OhOh

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Quality fucking work

True, but it was the Thai agent who cracked the Red Notice. One wonders how long it normally takes for a red notice to become valid from the date/time of request.

When it's received I would imagine.

Who fucking cares, they got the c u n t.

Perhaps if filthy vlad didn't keep tipping off criminals that they were about to be arrested, they wouldn't have to jump through all these hoops.

Anyway it doesn't matter, job done.