Moscow Hacker Arrested in Georgia, Faces U.S. Court for Cybercrimes
Deniss Zolotarjovs, a 33-year-old resident of Moscow, has recently been charged with participating in the activities of an international cybercriminal organization. A federal grand jury in Ohio has indicted him on charges of conspiracy to launder money, wire fraud, and extortion.
Zolotarjovs was arrested in December 2023 in Georgia, where he was held in custody until his recent extradition to the United States. According to the investigation, he is an active member of a notorious cybercriminal group (the name of which has not been disclosed) that conducts attacks on computer systems worldwide.
The group steals data and threatens to publish it unless the victims pay a ransom in cryptocurrency. The criminals operate a website where they post the stolen data for free download.
The investigation alleges that Zolotarjovs was involved in laundering cryptocurrency obtained from victims and personally engaged in extortion. He is the first member of this group to be arrested and extradited to the United States.
Representatives of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stated that Zolotarjovs’s case was made possible through the collaboration of several FBI offices in the U.S. and the assistance of Georgian authorities in extraditing the defendant.
It is important to note that the charges are currently only allegations, and Zolotarjovs is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
