Russian Hacker Sentenced To 12 Years In Prison

Russian hacker Andrei Tyurin, who helped carry out an attack on J.P. Morgan Chase, among other companies, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison, Bloomberg reported.

Tyurin pled guilty in 2019 to the crime, which netted hundreds of millions of dollars and affected around 140 million clients, according to the prosecutors in the case.

While he was originally facing 15 to 20 years, U.S. District Judge Hon. Laura Taylor Swain eventually reduced his sentence due to the harsh treatment he’d received in Tbilisi, Georgia before being extradited to the U.S. There, he contracted COVID-19 while in custody. Bloomberg reports that he’ll get credit for time served.

According to the prosecutors in the case, Tyurin and an Israeli citizen named Gery Shalon worked for seven years, stealing customers’ information from 12 different financial service and information companies, including Fidelity Investments, E-Trade Financial and Dow Jones & Co.

Using the information, Tyurin and his co-conspirators created spam emails promoting stocks in hope of profiting from upswings, Bloomberg said.

The government, knowing the details of the crime, asked for a longer prison sentence more befitting of the large nature of the scheme, which they said would send a deterring message to other such criminals. Tyurin was reportedly paid $19 million for his work, and had been plotting to destroy evidence that could have led to his arrest.

“Shalon’s criminal empire may be large, but none of that could have been anywhere close to as professional or successful if Tyurin hadn’t entered his life,” said prosecutor Eun Young Choi, according to Bloomberg.

Tyurin said he regretted what he’d done, but added that “unfortunately, I cannot turn back time.”

As PYMNTS reported, the trial was marked by numerous closed-door discussions and cancellations, likely as lawyers tried to work out a deal. Tyurin was first charged in 2015 while he was still at large. His hacks had been so extensive that the authorities thought them to be state-sponsored.