Ransomware causes a lot of damage, but rarely are those associated with it caught. Well, in this case three Russians were charged and one was arrested!
Ruslan Magomedovich Astamirov was arrested and charged with conspiracy to distribute ransomware:
In furtherance of his LockBit-related activities, Astamirov owned, controlled, and used a variety of email addresses, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, and other online provider accounts that allowed him and his co-conspirators to deploy LockBit ransomware and to communicate with their victims. Additionally, in at least one circumstance, law enforcement was able to trace a portion of a victim’s ransom payment to a virtual currency address in Astamirov’s control.
…
Astamirov is charged with conspiring to commit wire fraud and conspiring to intentionally damage protected computers and to transmit ransom demands. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the first charge and a maximum penalty of five years in prison on the second charge. Both charges are also punishable by a maximum fine of either $250,000 or twice the gain or loss from the offense, whichever is greatest.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/russian-national-arrested-and-charged-conspiring-commit-lockbit-ransomware-attacks-against-us
The second Russian is Mikhail Vasiliev from Ontario, Canada. Vasiliev is in custody in Canada awaiting extradition to the U.S.
According to court documents, Vasiliev allegedly participated in the LockBit campaign. He is charged with conspiracy to intentionally damage protected computers and to transmit ransom demands. If convicted, he faces a maximum of five years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/man-charged-participation-lockbit-global-ransomware-campaign
Lastly, I discussed Mikhail Pavlovich Matveev, one of the charged Russians back in:
Russian Charged With Ransomware Attacks – eCrimeBytes Nibble #39
Sources:
- https://www.databreaches.net/russian-national-arrested-and-charged-with-conspiring-to-commit-lockbit-ransomware-attacks-against-u-s-and-foreign-businesses/
- https://www.justice.gov/d9/2023-06/astamirov.complaint.pdf
- https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/russian-national-arrested-and-charged-conspiring-commit-lockbit-ransomware-attacks-against-us
- https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/russian-national-charged-conspiring-commit-lockbit-ransomware-attacks-against-us-and
- https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67508215/united-states-v-astamirov/
- https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/man-charged-participation-lockbit-global-ransomware-campaign
- https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/russian-national-charged-ransomware-attacks-against-critical-infrastructure
- https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/65751578/united-states-v-vasiliev/
- https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67395084/united-states-v-matveev/
- https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67392517/united-states-v-matveev/
Transcript:
00:00:10:00 – 00:00:13:16
Keith
Today on eCrimeBytes nibble number 50 there
00:00:13:16 – 00:00:32:19
Keith
were three Russians charged and arrested for conspiring to commit Lockbit ransomware attacks. So as we know, ransomware causes a lot of damage, but rarely are those associated with it caught. Well, in this case, three Russians were charged and one was arrested.
00:00:32:19 – 00:00:39:25
Keith
Ruslan Astamirov was arrested and charged with conspiracy to distribute ransomware.
00:00:39:27 – 00:01:00:08
Keith
Now, inside the Justice Department press release on this, they said that Astamirov controlled and owned a variety of email addresses and IP addresses and other online accounts that allowed him and his coconspirators to deploy the Lockbit ransomware and send it to their victims.
00:01:00:08 – 00:01:31:14
Keith
So Astamirov is charged with conspiring to commit wire fraud and conspiring to intentionally damage protected computers and to transmit ransom demands. Now, if you wonder what a protected computer it is in U.S. legal terms, it’s basically any computer that’s connected to the Internet. So if convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the first charge and a maximum penalty of five years in prison on the second charge.
00:01:31:16 – 00:01:54:29
Keith
And both charges are punishable by a maximum fine of either a quarter million dollars or twice the gain or loss from the offense, whichever is the greatest. So the second Russian in this case was Mikhail Vasiliev from Ontario, Canada. And Vasiliev is actually in custody in Canada awaiting extradition to the U.S. right now.
00:01:54:29 – 00:02:02:19
Keith
He is also charged with conspiracy to intentionally damage protected computers and to transmit ransom demands.
00:02:02:22 – 00:02:31:09
Keith
If convicted, he faces a maximum of five years in prison. And then lastly, the third Russian in this case was one that I’ve already covered in eCrimeBytes nibble number 39. And it was Mikhail Matveev. And I’ve got a whole, whole nibble on that guy that you can go and watch there. And I will go ahead and link to it here on YouTube for you.
00:02:31:11 – 00:02:47:08
Keith
And with that, if you enjoy these real quick eCrimeBytes updates of just cases and status updates, you’re definitely going to like our eCrimeBytes full episodes where my co-host Seth and I take one of these cases and we go much more in depth into it. I
00:02:47:08 – 00:02:49:21
Keith
really hope to see you over there on one of the full episodes soon.
00:02:49:24 – 00:02:51:19
Keith
Thanks. Bye.
#ecrimebytes #electronic #truecrime #podcast #humor #funny #comedy #lockbit #ransom #ransomware #russian
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