American fugitive Joshua Aaron, who is a suspect in the massive JPMorgan hack that took place back in 2014, arrived back in the U.S. from Russia this week.
Aaron’s return to the U.S. and subsequent arrest comes after seven months of negotiations between U.S. authorities and a migrant detention center near Moscow, people close to the matter told Bloomberg.
After arriving in New York on Wednesday (Dec. 14), Aaron pled not guilty to 16 criminal counts, which included securities fraud, conspiracy and hacking. Aaron and two Israelis are accused of stealing data from more than 100 million customers through orchestrated cybercrime schemes that took place from 2007 to mid-2015 and targeted at least nine financial and publishing firms, including the cyberattack on JPMorgan.
The global network of cybercrime reportedly included illegal online casinos and payments that ran from Israel to the U.S., hitting Cyprus, Azerbaijan and Switzerland.
The cyberthieves laundered the proceeds of their criminal activities through more than 75 different shell companies and brokerages located worldwide, The Wall Street Journal reported last year, noting that the team allegedly used aliases and over 30 fake passports to control the accounts.
U.S. authorities arrested the two Israeli nationals, Gery Shalon and Ziv Orenstein, early last year, while Aaron remained at large in the Ukraine and then Russia until this year.
“They colluded with corrupt international bank officials who willfully ignored its criminal nature in order to profit from, as a co-conspirator described it to Shalon, their payment processing ‘casino/software/pharmaceutical cocktail,’” the indictment of the three suspects stated.
Some of the charges filed against Aaron carry a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
Learn More