REvil hackers return to the prosecutor

[Carding]

The St. Petersburg Garrison Military Court issued a ruling on the return to the prosecutor of the criminal case against former serviceman senior warrant officer of the reserve Artem Zayets and citizens Malozemov A.V., Bessonov A.S., Golovachuk M.A., Muromsky R.G., Korotaev D. .V., Puzyrevsky D.D. and Khansvyarova R.A., accused of committing a crime under Part 2 of Article 187 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the latter two are also accused of committing a crime under Part 2 of Article 273 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

In the preliminary hearing, the parties discussed the issue of returning this criminal case to the prosecutor in connection with a violation of the rules of jurisdiction, and this violation consists in the fact that Zayets is accused of committing a crime under part 2 of article 187 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, committed by him during the military service, however, the preliminary investigation of the case was carried out by investigators of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, and not by investigators of the Russian Investigative Committee, as required by paragraph 2 of article 151 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation.

The public prosecutor considered that there were no grounds for returning the criminal case to the prosecutor. According to the prosecutor, the criminal case against Puzyrevsky, Zayets and others was investigated under Article 187 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and Article 273 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation by investigators of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, who revealed the unlawful acts imputed to the accused, that is, in accordance with the requirements of Part 5 of Article 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation.

The accused and their lawyers, each individually, did not object to the return of the criminal case to the prosecutor.

The military court explained.

As follows from the extracts from the orders of the RF Ministry of Defense, received at the request of the court, Zayets was enrolled in the VA MTO on August 1, 2018 (acquired the status of a serviceman) and served in the academy, and then in the military unit, from where on January 12, 2022 he was dismissed in this the day is excluded from the lists of personnel (lost the status of a military man). The investigation also knew about the circumstances of Zayets's military service, since some of the above orders were attached to the case file, and the accused himself testified about this.

According to the indictment, Zaets committed the crimes imputed to him from December 6, 2018, the day he joined the group organized by Puzyrevsky, until the day he was detained by law enforcement officers, in connection with which their illegal activities were stopped, that is, until January 13, 2022.

The passage of military service by Zayets at the time of the commission of the acts imputed to him, as well as to other participants in an organized group of acts, is, by virtue of subparagraph “c” of part 2 of article 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, the basis for conducting a preliminary investigation into the case by investigators of the Investigative Committee of Russia. However, from the materials of the criminal case it is seen that the preliminary investigation into the case was carried out by investigators of the SD of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, the indictment was signed by the investigator of the named department, agreed by the deputy head of the investigative body.

Based on the foregoing, the court concluded that the rules of jurisdiction were violated during the investigation of this criminal case, and this violation of the law cannot be eliminated during the consideration of the case on the merits in court.

The St. Petersburg Garrison Military Court returned the criminal case to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation to remove obstacles to its consideration by the court.

The term of the previously chosen measure of restraint in the form of detention by the accused was extended until November 14, 2023.

 

[Carding]

REvil Cybercriminals Return to the Litigation Scene

Violations were found in the investigation of the criminal case of the hacker group.

The St. Petersburg Garrison Military Court decided to return the criminal case related to members of the hacker group REvil (or Sodinokibi) to the Prosecutor General's Office. Among the accused are senior reserve warrant officer Artem Zaets and citizens Alexey Malozemov, Andrey Bessonov, Mikhail Golovachuk, Roman Muromsky, Dmitry Korotaev, Daniil Puzyrevsky and Ruslan Khansvyarov. It is assumed that they are associated with the REvil group, also known as Sodinokibi. They are accused of illegal transactions with payments under Article 187 of the Criminal Code (Part 2).The last two are also accused of creating, using and distributing malware under Article 273 of the Criminal Code (Part 2).

According to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, the alleged hackers used partners to spread viruses that encrypted data and blocked companies access to their own devices. After that, they demanded a ransom from organizations for removing blocks. Hackers partners received 60-75% of the ransom, transferring them part of the money, calculations were carried out in the Monero cryptocurrency. In 2020, the attackers may have earned about $100 million.

The group became known for its large-scale cyber attacks on Western companies, such as Quanta Computer, JBS, Colonial Pipeline, Kaseya and others. Foreign intelligence agencies consider REvil an international community of cybercriminals. Also, together with the groups Killnetl and Anonymous Sudan, they threatened cyber attacks on the European banking system. So, in June, hackers broke the inter-network structure of the European Investment Bank, which lends to infrastructure projects in Greece, Romania, Poland and other countries.

FSB officers, based on materials received from the FBI, detained hackers in January 2022 in different regions of Russia. In total, 14 suspects were held in the case against REvil, but eight were put on trial.

Despite all the circumstances, only minor frauds involving foreign citizens were involved in the trial. The defendants were arrested and their assets, including money and cars, were confiscated for damages.

During the hearing, it was revealed that one of the accused, Artyom Zats, was charged for a crime committed during his service. At the same time, the investigation was conducted by the Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which causes contradictions with the criminal procedure legislation.

The court decision says that the Ministry of Internal Affairs was aware of the circumstances of the accused's service, since some of the army orders were attached to the case, and the defendant himself also testified about this. But the supervising prosecutor did not pay attention to this at the time. Now the case will be returned to the Prosecutor General's Office that approved the charge, and from it — to the military investigation of the TFR.

The lawyer representing the interests of one of the defendants noted that in this case there is a conflict between Russian and American legislation. He stressed that the process remains unclear and is fraught with many legal problems. The lawyer also stressed that the charges brought against his client do not stand up to any criticism. "Well, everything is sucked out of your finger, and people have been sitting for a year and nine months," the lawyer stressed.

 

[Carding 4 Carders]

The FSB, at the request of the United States, conducted a special operation against REvil hackers

The court found no violations of jurisdiction in the case of hackers REvil

ST. PETERSBURG, October 27. The decision to return the case of the REvil hacker group to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation has been canceled. The 1st Western District Military Court did not support the position of the first instance, which found violations of the rules of investigation. This was reported to RAPSI by the United Press Service of the Courts of St. Petersburg.

Thus, the case again goes to the St. Petersburg Garrison Military Court for consideration. Senior reserve ensign Artem Zayets, Alexey Malozemov, Andrey Bessonov, Mikhail Golovachuk, Roman Muromsky, Dmitry Korotaev, Daniil Puzyrevsky and Ruslan Khansvyarov will sit in the dock. All of them are accused of droppery — illegal circulation of payment funds (Part 2 of Article 187 of the Criminal Code), and Puzyrevsky and Khansvyarov of creating, using and distributing malicious computer programs (Part 2 of Article 273 of the Criminal Code). All are under arrest until November 14.

As follows from the case file, hackers of the REvil group used malware to encrypt data of commercial companies, blocking access to their own servers, and extorted money for unblocking and decryption. Hackers attacked mainly Western companies. Among the victims of REvil were, for example, Quanta Computer (one of Apple's key partners), as well as JBS Foods, Acer and others.

As reported by the Center for Public Relations (DSP) of the FSB of Russia, the activities of the REvil group became known from the appeal of US law enforcement agencies, who reported on the leader of an organized criminal community and his involvement in encroachments on the information resources of foreign high-tech companies.

Initially, 14 people were detained in the REvil case, but 8 accused will appear in court.

"During the searches, 426 million rubles were seized, including in cryptocurrency, 600 thousand US dollars, 500 thousand euros, as well as computer equipment, crypto wallets used to commit crimes, 20 premium-class cars purchased with money obtained by criminal means," the DSP reported.