A few hours ago, Bloomberg reported on the charges against the Russian hacker Andrei Tyurin. The latter, under the guidance of the Georgian-born Israeli Gery “Gabi” Shalon, facilitated the biggest financial hack in U.S. history. In Sept 2019 Tyurin a/k/a “Andrei Tiurin,” pled guilty to computer intrusion, wire fraud, bank fraud, and illegal online gambling offenses in connection with this hacker attack. Allegedly, Tyurin was paid $19 million for his work, scheming with Shalon to destroy evidence that might lead to their apprehension. Prosecutors are seeking a prison term between 15 to 20 years.
The U.S. prosecutors urged U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain to hand down a punishment consistent with federal sentencing guidelines, under a plea agreement, when he is sentenced on Dec 3, 2020. The guidelines call for Tyurin to spend from 15 years and eight months to 19 years and seven months in prison. The sentence should reflect the “enormous destructive impact” of his hacking, the prosecutors argue.
Gery Shalon is also one of the masterminds behind Gal Barak, who was sentenced in the Vienna Cybercrime Trials (#VCT) in early September 2020 to four years imprisonment and restitution payments in the millions. Besides Tyurin, Russian cybercrime veteran Vladislav Smirnov (aka Vladislav Khokholkov) is one of the closest partners of Shalon. Smirnov was also a partner of Barak in his cybercrime organization.
In the next trial of #VCT Barak’s wife, the Bulgarian citizen Marina Barak aka Marina Andreeva will have to answer to the court for investment fraud and money laundering. The #VCT will see several more trials in 2021.
Gery Shalon has been working with the U.S. authorities after his arrest in Israel in 2015 and the extradition to the U.S. in 2016. He apparently revealed details of his cybercrime organization that led to the arrest of Tyurin and other co-conspirators in the financial hack. Currently, the respective court files are still sealed but it is believed that Shalon has pleaded guilty and is snitching on his partners. Shalon has several Russian cell phones and is in constant contact with Smirnov. He is expected to be sentenced sometime in the spring of 2021.
