Vyacheslav Igorevich Penchukov, often known as Tank and one of many leaders of the infamous JabberZeus cybercrime gang, was arrested in Geneva final month.
The Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) mentioned Penchukov was arrested final month and is ready to be extradited to the United States, though he can nonetheless attraction FOJ’s choice.
“By order of the Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) and based mostly on an extradition request from the USA, a Ukrainian nationwide was arrested within the Canton of Geneva on 23 October 2022 and detained pending extradition,” Swiss prosecutors advised BleepingComputer.
“The US authorities accuse the prosecuted particular person of extortion, financial institution fraud, and id theft, amongst different issues. During the listening to on 24 October 2022, the particular person didn’t consent to his extradition to the USA through a simplified continuing.
“After completion of the formal extradition process, the FOJ has determined to grant his extradition to the USA on 15 November 2022. The choice of the FOJ could also be appealed on the Swiss Criminal Federal Court, respectively on the Swiss Supreme Court.”
Cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs first reported that Penchukov was arrested whereas touring to Geneva to satisfy along with his spouse.
From stealing financial institution accounts to ransomware
The U.S. Department of Justice first charged Penchukov in 2012, accusing him of being concerned in a conspiracy to steal hundreds of thousands of {dollars} utilizing checking account numbers, passwords, private identification numbers, and different delicate information stolen utilizing the infamous Zeus malware.
Multiple sources beforehand advised BleepingComputer that Penchukov was additionally one of many managers of the Maze and Egregor ransomware operations.
Maze ransomware popularized double-extortion assaults, the place the risk actors additionally stole knowledge and used it as additional leverage to strain victims into paying a ransom. Maze later rebranded to the Egregor and Sekhmet operations to evade legislation enforcement.
BleepingComputer was additionally advised that he was among the many suspects arrested in January 2021 by Ukrainian police following a global legislation enforcement operation concentrating on Egregor ransomware gang members.
However, based on Krebs’ report, he was in a position to evade prosecution with the assistance of his political connections, together with the late son of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
As considered one of JabberZeus cybercrime ring’s leaders, Penchukov managed the stolen banking credentials and the cash mules who wired cash from the victims’ accounts into these managed by the cybercriminals.
Together with eight different suspects, he was charged with conspiring to take part in “racketeering exercise, conspiracy to commit pc fraud and id theft, aggravated id theft, and a number of counts of financial institution fraud.”
Two of his co-conspirators, Ukrainian nationals Yevhen Kulibaba and Yuriy Konovalenko, pleaded responsible in November 2014 after being extradited from the UK and have been sentenced to 2 years and ten months of incarceration in May 2015.