SEATTLE: US federal prosecutors want the Russian man convicted of hacking into US businesses to steal credit card data to be sentenced to 30 years in prison and ordered to pay $170 million in restitution.
But Roman Seleznev’s lawyers say his troubled history, poor health and willingness to help the government catch other cybercriminals should be considered when deciding his sentence.
Friday’s sentencing hearing in US District Court in Seattle was expected to last several hours.
Seleznev, the son of a member of the Russian Parliament, was first indicted in 2011 on 29 felony charges and was captured in 2014. US Secret Service agents, with the help of local police, arrested Seleznev in the Maldives as he and his girlfriend arrived at the airport on their way back to Russia. The agents flew him by private jet to Guam, where he made his first court appearance, and then to Seattle, where he was placed in federal custody.
The indictment grew to 40 counts in October 2014 and his trial was held in August 2016. The jury found him guilty on 38 charges, including nine counts of hacking and 10 counts of wire fraud.
“Seleznev enriched himself by these activities and lived an extravagant lifestyle at the expense of small, hard-working business owners who saw their businesses either damaged or destroyed as a result of Seleznev’s attacks,” federal prosecutors said in their pre-sentence memo to the judge.
“His victims include over 3,700 different financial institutions, over 500 businesses around the world and millions of individual credit card holders.”
His prosecution is “unprecedented,” the deputy US attorneys who worked on the case told the judge.
“Never before has a criminal engaged in computer fraud of this magnitude been identified, captured and convicted by an American jury,” they said. That is why his sentence should reflect the severity of his crime, they said.
“There is tremendous public interest in deterring cybercrime,” prosecutors said.
Seleznev’s lawyer, Igor Litvak, told the judge that leniency is appropriate. Seleznev has accepted responsibility for his crimes and deeply regrets that his actions caused financial losses to various victims, Litvak said.
“Moreover, he wants to actively rectify the consequences of his criminal actions and to use his knowledge and experience to prevent new cyber-attacks perpetrated by others,” Litvak said.
To prove his commitment to helping fight cybercrime, he recently arranged to give the US government four of his laptops and six flash drives, and has met with officials to discuss hacker activities, Litvak said.
Seleznev’s life story should also be considered, his lawyer said.
His parents divorced when he was 2 years old; his alcoholic mother died when he was 17; he suffered a severe head injury in a terrorist bombing in Morocco in 2011, causing his doctors to say he may not recover; his wife divorced him while he was in a coma, Litvak told the judge.
He continues to suffer after-effects from the bombing, including seizures, Litvak said. Medical experts say there’s a high risk of “progressive impairment of his cognitive functions” and he must be monitored by specialized medical staff, he said.
Russian hacker faces decades in prison
Russian hacker faces decades in prison
Ukraine’s Zelensky arrives at Singapore security forum
- Ukrainian leader has been touring European nations in recent days to appeal for more military aid for the army
SINGAPORE: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived Saturday at a Singapore security forum, as he seeks to rally support for Kyiv while a Russian offensive gains ground.
Zelensky will speak at the Shangri-La Dialogue on Sunday, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said, saying that Zelensky would appear in person.
There had been speculation that Zelensky would make an appearance at this weekend’s security forum attended by defense ministers from around the world, including the United States and China.
Zelensky has been touring European nations in recent days to appeal for more military aid for the Ukrainian army, which has been ceding ground to relentless Russian attacks.
The Singapore announcement follows a US decision to partially lift restrictions on using US-provided weapons to strike inside Russia, which Zelensky has hailed as a “step forward.”
US President Joe Biden had come under increasing pressure from a desperate Ukraine to ease his ban but had resisted for fear it could drag NATO into direct conflict or even a nuclear standoff with Moscow.
Germany said Friday it too had given Ukraine permission to fire German-delivered weapons at targets in Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Tuesday that there would be “serious consequences” if Western countries gave approval to Ukraine.
Ukraine is struggling to hold back a Russian ground offensive in the Kharkiv region, where Moscow recently made its largest territorial gains in 18 months.
With Russia’s war against Ukraine in its third year, Ukrainian soldiers are exhausted and outgunned.
Many Kyiv allies remain uneasy about the prospect of sending Western troops to Ukraine.
In February, French President Emmanuel Macron sparked an uproar among NATO members when he refused to rule out sending troops to Ukraine.
Zelensky has visited Spain, Sweden, Portugal and Belgium in recent days as he seeks more weapons and aid for his struggling military, and to whip up support for a peace summit due to be held in Switzerland this month.
Sweden pledged on Wednesday military aid of 13.3 billion kronor ($1.25 billion) to Ukraine.
The Scandinavian country, which formally joined NATO in March, will donate a range of military supplies, including ASC 890 surveillance aircraft, Rb 99 medium-range air-to-air missiles and artillery ammunition, and its entire fleet of PBV 302 armored tracked personnel carriers.
Russia fired a combined 100 missiles and drones at Ukraine, in an overnight barrage targeting energy sites across the country, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday.
Russia has launched hundreds of aerial attacks at Ukraine’s power facilities throughout the war, causing significant damage and energy shortages as Ukraine’s stretched air defenses struggle to repel waves of drones and missiles.
Russian missiles and drones target Ukrainian energy sites
KYIV: Russia fired a combined 100 missiles and drones at Ukraine overnight, in a barrage that targeted energy sites across the country, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday.
Russia has launched hundreds of aerial attacks at Ukraine’s power facilities throughout the two-year war, causing significant damage and energy shortages as Ukraine’s stretched air defenses struggle to repel the waves of drones and missiles.
“The enemy launched 53 missiles of various types and 47 attack drones,” the air force said, adding that it shot down 35 of the missiles and all but one of the drones.
Two thermal power plants were damaged in the attack, the DTEK operator said, without specifying where they were located.
“It was another extremely difficult night for the Ukrainian energy sector. The enemy struck two of our thermal power plants. The equipment was seriously damaged,” the company said in a statement on Telegram.
It was the sixth major attack on DTEK thermal power plants since mid-March, it added.
Ukraine’s Energy Minister German Galushchenko said Russia had targeted sites in five regions — Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovograd, Ivano-Frankivsk and Zaporizhzhia — stretching from near the eastern frontlines to Ukraine’s west, which borders the EU.
The ministry warned that power restrictions were likely on Saturday evening as a result of the attacks.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow was trying to “exploit” a lack of “determination” among Ukraine’s key Western backers and repeated his call for more air defense systems.
“Russia’s main goal is to normalize terror, to exploit the lack of sufficient air defense and determination of Ukraine’s partners,” he said in a social media post.
“This is a test of humanity and determination for the free world. Either we pass this test together, or the world will plunge into even greater destabilization and chaos,” he added.
Indonesia ready to send peacekeepers, medical staff to Gaza
- Prabowo said US President Joe Biden’s three-phase proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza was a step in the right direction
- Indonesia was also ready to receive and to treat 1,000 patients from Gaza
JAKARTA: Indonesia’s president-elect, Prabowo Subianto, said on Saturday that his country was willing to send peacekeeping troops to enforce a ceasefire in Gaza if required.
Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier security conference, Prabowo said US President Joe Biden’s three-phase proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza was a step in the right direction.
“When needed and when requested by the UN, we are prepared to contribute significant peacekeeping forces to maintain and monitor this prospective ceasefire as well as providing protection and security to all parties and to all sides,” Prabowo said.
The 72-year-old former special forces general and current Indonesian defense minister takes on the presidency of the world’s most populous Muslim nation in October.
He said President Joko Widodo had instructed him to announce that Indonesia was also ready “to evacuate, to receive and to treat with medical care up to 1,000 patients” from Gaza.
The Indonesia Hospital in Gaza, which was run by an Indonesia NGO, closed in November amid the fighting.
Prabowo said a comprehensive investigation into the humanitarian disaster in the Rafah area of Gaza was needed as well as a “just solution” to the situation in Palestine.
“And that means the rights of not only Israel to exist, but also the rights of the Palestinian people to have their own homeland, their own state, living in peace.”
20 drown in boat accident in eastern Afghanistan, official says
- At least five bodies had been recovered and efforts were underway to find the others
- Official says five people survived the accident, the cause of which was being investigated
KABUL: Twenty people, including children, drowned when a boat sank during a river crossing in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province on Saturday, a provincial official said.
“A boat with women and children on board sank on Saturday morning at 7 am (0230 GMT) in the river in the Basawul area of Momand Dara district” of eastern Nangarhar, said Quraishi Badloon, the head of the province’s information department, in a post on social media platform X.
He said five people survived the accident, the cause of which was being investigated.
The Nangarhar Information and Culture Department said the authorities had sent a medical team and ambulances to the area, in a message shared with media.
At least five bodies had been recovered and efforts were underway to find the others, provincial government officials said.
Residents in the area regularly cross the river using boats often in poor condition, as there is no nearby bridge, local media reported.
South African vote tallying enters final stages with ANC on 40%
- The ANC has won every previous national election since the historic 1994 vote that ended white minority rule
- But its support has slid as the South African economy stagnated, unemployment climbed and infrastructure crumbled
MIDRAND, South Africa: Vote tallying in this week’s South African parliamentary election entered the final stages on Saturday, with the governing African National Congress (ANC) set to fall well short of a majority for the first time in 30 years of democracy.
The ANC has won every previous national election since the historic 1994 vote that ended white minority rule, but over the last decade its support has slid as South Africans have watched the economy stagnate, unemployment climb and infrastructure crumble.
With results in from over 97 percent of the more than 23,000 polling stations in Wednesday’s vote, the ANC stood at 40.11 percent, a precipitous drop from the 57.50 percent it secured at the last national election in 2019.
The biggest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, was at 21.72 percent, while uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), a new party led by former president Jacob Zuma, had 14.83 percent of the vote.
MK’s strong performance, especially in Zuma’s home province of KwaZulu-Natal, is one of the main reasons behind the ANC’s dismal showing.
The ANC will now have to strike a coalition deal or another form of agreement with one or more smaller parties to govern, an unprecedented prospect in the post-apartheid era.
Investors in Africa’s most industrialized economy will hope the uncertain picture will quickly become clear.
Political parties’ share of the vote will determine the number of seats they get in the National Assembly, which then elects the next president.
That could still be the ANC’s leader, President Cyril Ramaphosa, as the former liberation movement will remain the biggest party. But Ramaphosa will be badly weakened and is likely to face calls to quit from opposition parties and critics in the deeply-divided ANC.
On Friday, however, a top ANC official backed him to stay on as party leader, and analysts say there is no obvious successor to replace him.
The election commission has pencilled in a results announcement for Sunday.
