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Russia and The US Fight Over Who Gets To Extradite A Hacker (cnn.com)
An anonymous reader quotes CNN:
A young Russian alleged to have masterminded a massive hacking of social networks including LinkedIn and Dropbox is now at the center of an extradition struggle between the United States and Russia. Yevgeniy Nikulin was detained in October 2016, in the Czech Republic capital of Prague, after US authorities issued an international arrest warrant for him. He was on vacation there with his girlfriend. A grand jury indictment filed in 2016 in California charges him with computer intrusion and aggravated identity theft, among other offenses. Nikulin denies all the charges. If convicted of all charges, he could face a maximum sentence of more than 50 years in prison and more than $2 million in fines.
But soon after his arrest, Russian authorities also sought his extradition. The Russian charge referred to the alleged theft from an online money transfer company back in 2009. The amount involved was $3,450... The Foreign Ministry in Moscow said soon afterward it was "actively working with the Czech authorities to prevent the extradition of a Russian citizen to the United States."
But soon after his arrest, Russian authorities also sought his extradition. The Russian charge referred to the alleged theft from an online money transfer company back in 2009. The amount involved was $3,450... The Foreign Ministry in Moscow said soon afterward it was "actively working with the Czech authorities to prevent the extradition of a Russian citizen to the United States."
Could be a real fight if both sides want to employ the hacker against the other side.
I wonder which taker he would opt for. I suspect it's six of one and half-a-dozen of the other; really screwed either way.
Great minds think alike; fools seldom differ.
This is just Putin reminding the current US administration who's boss.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Or, they can decide to not allow him to be extradited at all. Regardless, it's up to them to weigh whatever they estimate the costs to themselves might be for making a decision that is unpopular with somebody else.
Final answer, it's up the country he's currently in to decide when to allow, where to allow, and even *IF* to allow extradition. Full stop.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
50 years for hacking is retarded, there should be 0 extraditions to the US until they reform their justice system.
It might catch the bad guy today but it can just as easily flip. Interesting times we live in.
Reminder: Aaron Schwartz was looking at 35 years in prison for nothing more than a clever wget script. Chelsea Manning was looking at 60 years in prison from Government prosecutors. Julian Assange would certainly see a life sentence, and Edward Snowden would likely be rotting in Guantanamo until death.
Russia might not have the most open and free system of legal justice, but the US incarcerates more people than any other country in the world, including North Korea. You might want to roll the dice and see if Russia will at least attempt to be reasonable
Good people go to bed earlier.
did you not see NATO's provocating display earlier this year and last, rolling in American tanks to "protect" eastern Europe from the soon-to-be invading Russians, with Czech people waving American flags like they were saved from certain death. They _LOVE_ America, and will happily extradite even their own citizens on BS charges to appeas the U.S.
How is it that we can't afford trials for more than half of our indictments at home, but we can afford to try and inflict our domestic laws on people in Prague? Surely Microsoft and Dropbox do enough business in the Czech Republic to file local charges there, or is it just that they already have the California criminal justice system on retainer?
He's a Russian citizen, it's likely that after the US imprisons him he'd be kicked back to Russia anyway for whatever they're going to jail him for, but if Russia does first there's a decent chance he can avoid the US part of the equation at least
"goodbye and hello, as always" ~Prince Corwin, from Zelazny's Amber series
If this man is allegedly intelligent enough to break into Linkedin and Dropbox, than he should have known better than travel to a country that's an enthusiastic EU and NATO member. This is not a first. Some of the Russian black hat hackers or mobsters think they can con either russian companies or individuals or western, and then retire in some nice quiet bucolic place like Greece, Spain, or Czech republic.
The guy isn't wanted by the country he is in. let him go wherever he wants. The crimes weren't even committed in the countries he's wanted extradited to. I think it is ridicules that a person "hacking" from a foreign country should be extraditable when that person has never even been to your country. When you signed up for access to a WORLD WIDE NETWORK you are accepting the risks that come with being connected to that network. It's nobody else's fault if you don't take sane security precautions and get hacked. At the end of the day your company / country / organization / etc is still at risk if you don't fix the bugs and not just from rogue "hackers".
Rushen tank's are closer and if your over 25 you know it wouldent be the first' time.
Keep the whitehouse white, vote Trump & Palin 2020.
This guy has dirt on other Russian hacking activities, and Moscow doesn't want him to get out of their reach.
> I would definitely hope for Russia if I were in his shoes. A charge for stealing around $4k or multiple charges including computer intrusion and aggravated identity theft. Sure, Russian prison is horrendous but I doubt he would get near the amount of time and fines as he would in the USA.
You are so naive...
If the hacker goes to USA he will suffer in Supermax prison for up to 50 years, one dollar breakfast every morning, lack of Playstation access and whatnot. If he goes back to Russia he'll be dead very soon. Something will just happen to him, like drinking polonium laced tea or accidentally shoots himself in the back 3x times while trying to flee or simply disappears in the prison camp system, never to be found again and so his silence is ensured. Value of human life is exactly zero in totalitarian systems.
If I were a russian hacker in cuffs, I'd fight tooth and nail to be extradited to USA and then try to bargain for something with FBI so as to see the daylight after some prison years, in a country where life is worth living. Hint: Russia is not such a place.
In other words, this russian hacker won the coveted "Green Card Lottery" but Vlad Putin wants to wrestle the lucky ticket from his cold hands.
The Russian charge is from 2009, so why the long wait, it is because they suddenly want him back when faced with a warrant from the Americans.
My money is that he part of their red team.
Extradition ebay. See how badly they want him.
How can you be so certain that this hacker isn't already working for the Russians or that they would like him to work for them and they didn't conjure up the $3,450 theft charge as a cover story so that they could get him back to Russia for further assignments? This sounds exactly like the kind of operation that the FSB would cook up to keep a valuable resource and incidentally a Russian citizen out of US hands. For all intents and purposes, we're now headed into Cold War II with Russia, with mutual loathing reaching all time highs on both sides. It will be interesting to see which way the Czech government goes on this one, what with the Ukraine example still hanging out there and the large Russian military exercises ("Zapad") this year.