Ukrainian national sentenced to over 13 years in prison for his role in REvil extortions

Ukrainian national Yaroslav Vasinskyi has been sentenced to over 13 years in prison for his involvement in the REvil group's extortion activities. The group conducted more than 2,500 ransomware attacks, demanding over $700 million in ransom payments. Vasinskyi, 24, was arrested in October 2021 while attempting to enter Poland under the alias Rabotnik and was extradited to the US in March 2022. He pleaded guilty to 11 counts, including conspiracy to commit fraud and computer-related activity, damaging protected computers, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

In November 2021, the US Department of Justice charged Vasinskyi for orchestrating the ransomware attacks on the Kaseya MSP platform, which occurred on July 4, 2021. The Department also concluded the forfeiture of millions of dollars' worth of ransom payments through two connected civil forfeiture cases. This included seizing 39.89138522 Bitcoin and $6.1 million in US dollars linked to purported ransom payments received by other members of the conspiracy.

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco emphasized that "deploying the REvil ransomware variant, the defendant reached out across the globe to demand hundreds of millions of dollars from U.S. victims." This case demonstrates the Department of Justice's global reach in bringing justice to those who target U.S. victims and disrupt the broader cybercrime ecosystem.

As cybercrime continues to be a growing threat, individuals like Yaroslav Vasinskyi are being brought to justice and sentenced.

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