A federal judge ordered a suspected Russian hacker be transferred from Guam to Seattle on Friday, where he was indicted in 2011 for allegedly hacking into point of sales systems at Washington restaurants, including a data breach in 2010 that involved stealing credit card information from hundreds of customers of Capitol Hill’s Broadway Grill.
Court documents do not indicate when Roman Seleznev, 30, will arrive stateside or when he will next appear in court. The details of Seleznev’s transfer will remain confidential until he arrives in Seattle and an arraignment is scheduled, said a Department of Justice official.
Seleznev was indicted in 2011 but wasn’t taken into custody until July 5th. DOJ representatives won’t say how the suspect was ultimately captured or how he ultimately arrived in Guam. The arrest of Seleznev, the son of a member of Russia’s Duma, set off international protest as his home nation called his seizure a kidnapping part of a string of disputes with the US over cybercrime.
According to the 2011 indictment, Seleznev’s hack of the Broadway Grill point of sale system resulted in at least $1.7 million in losses to banks and credit card companies. Seleznev’s charges include five counts of bank fraud, eight counts of intentionally causing damage to a protected computer, eight counts of obtaining information from a protected computer, one count of possession of unauthorized access devices, and two counts of trafficking those devices. He also faces five counts of aggravated identity theft.
On Friday, the Guam-based federal judge also denied a motion from the defense to have Seleznev released from custody.
It’s kind of amazing that federal law enforcement was able to track down and arrest this guy in far-away Guam. Well done, I say!
It’s good to see that, at least occasionally, a cyberhacker is going to be held accountable for his criminal actions.
While we haven’t heard the details, that NYTimes article states
So he wasn’t apprehend him in Guam but somewhere else (in the South Pacific or South East Asia, probably), and just ended up in Guam as the nearest piece of US territory where US authorities could technically arrest him.
Reportedly he was initially picked up in the Maldives .
As one of those targeted by Mr. Seleznev’s crime (I ate at Broadway Grill), I am extremely pleased to hear this news. That Mr. Seleznev is one of the arrogant Russian elite (son of a Duma minister), and that he thought he was beyond the reach of the law, well, that’s just the cherry on top. Credit card theft is NOT a victimless crime.
[…] Courts: A federal judge sentenced Neighbours nightclub arsonist Musab Masmari to 10 years in prison – doubling the sentence agreed to by both sides in the case. Also in a federal court, accused Broadway Grill point of sales hacker Roman Seleznev was denied a bid to free him from custody as a judge ordered the 30-year-old Russian to be transported to Seattle from detention in Guam. […]
[…] Seleznev, 30, was arraigned in the downtown federal courthouse after a federal judge in Guam ordered his transfer from the island to Seattle earlier in August. He was ordered to remain in custody and no further court dates have […]
[…] until July 5th. DOJ representatives wouldn’t say how the suspect was ultimately captured or how he ended up in Guam, his first stop in U.S. territory. The arrest of Seleznev, the son of a member of Russia’s Duma, […]