In the US, a hacker from Russia has been sentenced to nine years in prison
Hacker Alexander tverdokhlebova possessing the citizenship of Russia and the United States, sentenced in Virginia to nine years in prison for stealing tens of thousands of credit card numbers. In his accounts found more than $5 million.
Hacker Russian origin Alexander Tverdokhlebov was sentenced on Friday to nine years in prison in court in Alexandria for theft of tens of thousands of credit card numbers and other crimes. About it reports The Washington Post.
29-year-old Tverdokhlebov told the court that he will try to “redeem himself”. According to investigators, he spent almost ten years on the Russian Internet forums, where hackers come together in groups and sell stolen information. To join the forum, he needed a guarantor, which would prove its reliability, said the Prosecutor in court.
Tverdokhlebov for several years, was able to sell at least 40 million credit card numbers.
He also tried to sell access to 500 thousand computers that have been infected with malware. According to the Prosecutor, the hacker stole confidential information from at least a hundred people.
Tverdohlebova managed to get about $1 million transfers from China and Russia, for cash withdrawal in the Bank account, he hired two students from Russia. In addition, he kept about $4.5 million in bitcoins. This amount he lost to the state.
Tverdokhlebov was arrested in February in California, in March, he pleaded guilty. Before his arrest, according to the Prosecutor, the Russians lived in Los Angeles, went to the “expensive travel” and drove a BMW. Hacker was holding cash in Deposit boxes around $272 thousand in accounts in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
“I had all the opportunities and resources to lead the same lifestyle in a legal way”, — quotes the words of WP tverdokhlebova in the process. Lawyer hacker requested to reduce the term, but agreed with the verdict, explaining the amount of money obtained by fraud. The lawyer said that his client “went the wrong way”.
Before sentencing Tverdokhlebov said that I should give more illegal money than it sought, the newspaper said. Judge Thomas Selby Ellis called tverdokhlebova “talented young man”.
Previously, the Daily Beast reported that the authorities managed to trace tverdokhlebova, cracking correspondence Vadim Polyakov, a native of St. Petersburg. Polyakov was accused of embezzlement of funds of the users of the site StubHub.com selling e-tickets. In total stolen was $1.6 million.
Alexander Tverdokhlebov was born in Russia, he received U.S. citizenship in 2009 when he married an American woman. Later with his wife he divorced.