14 DAY TRIAL // The Russian national that allegedly ran several carding forums and hacked into the compromised point-of-sale (PoS) systems of multiple retailers appeared for arraignment in US federal court and pleaded “not guilty” in front of the accusations.
Roman Valerevich Seleznev was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington back in 2011, but the US Secret Service managed to arrest him only this year, in Maldives, in an operation seen as controversial by Moscow.
Then he was taken to Guam Island, where a court ruled that the case should be taken to the court in Washington, where Seleznev was charged.
The defendant entered pleas of “not guilty” to the charges in the indictment, which include a total of 29 counts. If found guilty on all counts, he has to spend at least 65 years in prison and pay a total fine of $2,75 million / €2 million.
Also known under the online aliases of “Track2,” “nCuX,” “Bulba,” “smaus,” and “shmak,” Seleznev is accused of conducting cybercriminal activity between October 2009 and February 2011.
As per the allegations in the indictment, he hacked into the PoS systems of various retailers and stole credit and debit card information, which he sold on carding forums he operated.
The forums operated just like a regular business, where customers could buy, sell, or trade any of the goods resulted from cybercriminal activities.
30-year-old Seleznev seems to be the son of Valery Seleznev, a State Duma member representing the Liberal Democratic Party.
Because of this and the tensions between Russia and the United States, the matter soon escalated, with the Russian Foreign Ministry labeling the arrest in Maldive as kidnapping, condemning the authorities for permitting such an act on its territory, to special service agents of another country.
The minister also said that the United States was not at the first such act, reminding of other two Russian citizens, Viktor Bout and Konstantin Yaroshenko, convicted for attempted drug smuggling and conspiracy, brought by force into the United States.
About the alleged criminal activity of Seleznev, Assistant Attorney General Caldwell said that “cyber-criminals have caused enormous financial damage and innumerable invasions of Americans’ privacy, often from halfway around the world.”
“The alleged crimes in this case harmed thousands of U.S. citizens, and thanks to our law enforcement partners throughout the world, we will have the opportunity to seek justice in a U.S. courtroom,” he added in a statement from the Department of Justice.
The date of the trial has been set for October 6, 2014.