This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
A Russian hacker has admitted to his participation in one of the largest thefts of consumer data from U.S. financial institutions, brokerage firms, and other companies, the U.S. Justice Department says.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said Andrei Tyurin pleaded guilty to computer intrusion, wire fraud, bank fraud, and illegal online gambling offenses, the Justice Department said in a September 23 statement.
The 35-year-old Russian national from Moscow was extradited from Georgia last year.
He’s accused of helping steal the personal data of more than 80 million customers from the JP Morgan Chase investment bank from 2012 until mid-2015 in a hacking scheme uncovered by federal prosecutors four years ago. At the time the breach was described as the largest single theft of its kind.
“Ultimately, he [Tyurin] gathered the customer data of more than 80 million victims, one of the largest thefts of U.S. customer data from a single financial institution in history. With today’s plea, Tyurin’s global reign of computer intrusion is over and he faces significant time in a U.S. prison for his crimes,” Berman said in the statement.
Tyurin also allegedly targeted other U.S. financial institutions, brokerage firms, financial news publishers, and other American companies. He’s scheduled to be sentenced on February 13, 2020.