Rostislav Panev, a 51-year-old dual Russian-Israeli national, who is accused of being a key developer for the notorious LockBit ransomware gang, has been extradited from Israel to the United States, the Department of Justice announced on Thursday.
Panev was arrested in Israel in December, becoming the third person arrested for their role in LockBit. Since then, he had been awaiting extradition in Israel.
Prosecutors allege Panev was a developer working for the LockBit ransomware group from its beginnings in 2019 and until at least February 2024. Panev and other LockBit developers designed the gang’s malware and maintained its infrastructure, and split the criminal proceeds with the gang’s affiliates, who were the ones carrying out cyberattacks and extorting victims, according to the DOJ.
“If you are a member of the LockBit ransomware conspiracy, the United States will find you and bring you to justice,” said United States Attorney John Giordano.
You Might Also Like
Chinese marketplace DHgate becomes a top US app as trade war intensifies
The Trump trade war has gone viral on TikTok, pushing a Chinese e-commerce app, DHgate, to the top of the...
Hertz says customers’ personal data and driver’s licenses stolen in data breach
Car rental giant Hertz has begun notifying its customers of a data breach that included their personal information and driver’s...
OpenAI plans to phase out GPT-4.5, its largest-ever AI model, from its API
OpenAI said on Monday that it would soon wind down the availability of GPT-4.5, its largest-ever AI model, via its...
Google’s newest AI model is designed to help study dolphin ‘speech’
Google’s AI research lab, Google DeepMind, says that it has created an AI model that can help decipher dolphin vocalizations,...