14 DAY TRIAL // British authorities sent to jail five Russian nationals living in the UK for money laundering operations involving funds stolen via banking malware.
The five are what's called "cash mules" in the cyber-crime scene, criminals tasked with taking stolen funds, extracting the funds from ATMs, and then transferring the money to the hackers while also taking a cut of the profits.
UK police said it arrested the group's two leaders, Aslan Abazov, 30, who received seven years and six months in jail, and Aslan Gergov, 29, who got seven years and three months of incarceration.
Authorities also arrested and sent to jail three of their cash mules as well: Sergo Sahin, 26, on whom a sentence of 18 weeks in prison was passed, Andrejs Ignatjevs, 48, who got five months, and Kazbek Varitlov, 33, who received seven and a half months.
Cash mules group worked together with a hacking crew
According to UK police, the organization had partnered with a group of cyber-criminals who used malware to steal £1 million ($1.31 million / €1.18 million) from five business accounts at a UK bank on November 9, 2014, and then transferred the funds to 166 accounts set up by Gergov and Abazov.
The two, together with their three mules, then proceeded to extract the money from these accounts in batches of €2,000 and up to €4,000 ($1,800 - $3,600), mostly from locations at London's Heathrow Airport.
In other cases, the gang would buy expensive jewelry and send it back to Russia, where it was sold to recover the purchase price.
UK police say that Gergov and Abazov used the money they made from this operation to fund a building project in Nalchik, Russia, which was underway for more than a year.
Police arrested the gang last autumn
After repeated visits to Heathrow Airport money exchanges, UK police was alerted, and they arrested Ignatjevs and Varitlov. Police found a large number of debit cards at Varitlov's home, none issued in his name.
The other members of the gang were later arrested by October 14, 2015, and they all pleaded guilty for their crimes.
Analysis of the seized data showed that, before laundering the £1 million sum, the crooks participated in other money laundering operations of over £3.5 million ($4.6 million / €4.15 million).
The group had also previously operated in Germany, Austria, and Poland. Authorities said they managed to recover £190,731.68 ($250,158.9 / €225,429.32) from the stolen £1 million.