REvil Ransomware Group Members Released After Plea Bargain
Four members of the REvil ransomware group have been released from custody after pleading guilty to fraud and malware distribution charges. The Dzerzhinsky Court of St. Petersburg permitted Roman Muromsky, Andrei Bessonov, Mikhail Golovachuk, and Dmitry Korotaev to regain their freedom after sentencing each to five years in prison, with the ruling stating they had served sufficient time during their detention prior to the trial, reports 24brussels.
This case is not connected to the notorious ransomware attacks attributed to the REvil group prior to its shutdown in 2021. The four individuals were part of a series of arrests made by Russian authorities in January 2022, a response aligned with warnings from the U.S. government threatening action against Russian ransomware entities if the Kremlin did not intervene.
According to the state-owned Russian news agency TASS, the defendants admitted to participating in REvil activities from October 2015 to January 2022, primarily targeting individuals in the United States. Their fraudulent activities included “carding,” which involves the use of stolen credit card information to purchase prepaid gift cards.
The court’s decision included the forfeiture of vehicles, specifically two 2020 BMWs and one 2019 Mercedes-Benz C200 from Bessonov, along with the seizure of over $1 million in rubles and U.S. dollars from Korotaev. No fines were levied during sentencing.
A total of 14 members of the REvil organization were apprehended in January 2022. Among them, four others—Daniil Puzyrevsky, Artem Zayets, Alexey Malozemov, and Ruslan Khansvyarov—received prison sentences of up to six and a half years in October. Currently, it is believed that none of these individuals have been, or will be, extradited to the United States.
