Category Archives: Arkady Bukh

LinkedIn hacking suspect refuses to cooperate with his lawyers

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Yevgeniy Nikulin, the Russian hacker accused of stealing data from three United States-based tech firms, is uncooperative in his own defense, one of his lawyers said Tuesday. Nikulin, 30, is accused of hacking into LinkedIn, Dropbox and Formspring and siphoning data tied to over 100 million individuals. He was arrested in October 2016 and, following a lengthy geopolitical battle, was extradited from the Czech Republic to the U.S. in March. He pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. Nikulin is refusing to speak substantively about his own criminal defense, detainment or mental health, according to Valery Nechay, a lawyer on his defense team. He was placed in solitary confinement after an alleged escape attempt and multiple physical confrontations with U.S. Marshals. He is currently on suicide watch largely due to his non-cooperation, his lawyer explained. The defense is actively exploring a full psychiatric examination. Nechay said she can’t tell if Nikulin’s refusal to cooperate is a […]

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Jury trial against extradited Russian hacking suspect will begin in January

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The criminal jury trial against Yevgeniy Nikulin, the Russian hacker accused of stealing data from LinkedIn and other U.S.-based tech firms, will begin in January, United States District  Judge William Alsup ordered on Tuesday. The decision was a denial of the defense’s entreaties to delay the beginning of the case. Nikulin’s lawyers say they have not been able to adequately prepare for trial in the time allotted to them by the court. “No, we need to get the trial moving,” Alsup said, apparently unmoved. “This case is drifting, progress is not being made at a fast enough pace.” The exact date will be decided upon soon after prosecutors and defense counsel discuss the issue. Alsup gave the lawyers just a few weeks leeway in proposing a start time. The defense cites the “voluminous discovery, including several terabytes of server logs and Internet service provider records” along with “thousands of pages of reports and analysis” that prosecutors produced […]

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Extradited Russian hacking suspect is in solitary confinement, lawyer says

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The accused Russian hacker Yevgeniy Nikulin is currently in solitary confinement in Santa Rita Jail located in Alameda County, California. Nikulin faces charges of hacking data from the U.S. tech firms LinkedIn, Dropbox and Formspring. Nikulin, who denies all charges, has been in solitary for two months, defense lawyer Arkady Bukh told CyberScoop. Santa Rita Jail did not respond to a request for comment. When Nikulin first appeared in a U.S. courtroom in April, the Russian was in shackles because of what the U.S. Marshals described as an escape attempt and physical confrontations with officers. Bukh said the same reason is being used to justify the solitary confinement. “He says they’re harassing him,” Bukh said. Solitary confinement and its consequences on the prisoner are considered torture by some prominent psychologists as well as organizations including the American Medical Association and the United Nations. The Russian government has repeatedly expressed concerns about Nikulin’s mental and physical condition. Bukh, who has described Nikulin as […]

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Prosecutors hand over terabytes of evidence in case against Russian charged with LinkedIn breach

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U.S. prosecutors say they have an exceptionally large mountain of evidence in their case against Yevgeniy Nikulin, the Russian hacker accused of stealing data from LinkedIn and other American tech firms. The government is preparing to hand over the evidence to Nikulin’s lawyers, a discovery process that will take at least two months because of the sheer amount of data involved. “There is quite a bit of discovery in this case,” prosecutor Michelle Kane said. “Just one set of logs alone related to one of the victims will be about three terabytes, plus tens of thousands of other pages of discovery.” Nikulin’s lawyers, including Arkady Bukh, requested and received two months time to review the evidence as they build a defense for their client. The next hearing will take place on June 26. Judge William Alsup, who was clearly energetic in his desire to move the case along as quickly as possible, aims to […]

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Ukrainian accused in cybercrime wave is considering trial in U.S., lawyer says

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A lawyer for an alleged player in one of the largest hacking schemes in history says he is talking with the Department of Justice about the possibility of bringing his client to the U.S. to stand trial. Mikhail Rytikov can’t leave his home country of Ukraine because he would risk becoming the latest Eastern European snatched up by Western law enforcement and charged in cybercrimes. The 30-year-old, who lives in Odessa on the coast of the Black Sea, allegedly participated in criminal schemes by running a profitable “bulletproof hosting” business — servers that police supposedly can’t block or access — known as AbdAllah. Ukraine doesn’t extradite its own citizens, so Rytikov is theoretically safe as long as he stays close to home. But he vehemently denies any wrongdoing, and apparently wants to set the record straight. His lawyer in the U.S., Arkady Bukh, told CyberScoop he is negotiating with the Department of Justice about the possibility of standing trial in […]

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Extradited Russian explores plea deal for massive LinkedIn breach

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The legal team for Yevgeniy Nikulin, the Russian hacker accused of stealing data from LinkedIn and other American tech firms, will explore a plea deal with the U.S. government, according to Nikulin’s lawyer, Arkady Bukh. “The likelihood of a trial is not very high,” Bukh said. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, where Nikulin’s trial would occur, “has over a 99 percent conviction rate. We are not throwing clients under the bus,” Bukh said. Nikulin was extradited to the United States in March after a lengthy legal battle in the Czech Republic where he was first arrested in 2016. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in his first hearing in the San Francisco-based court. Nikulin is charged with breaches at LinkedIn, Dropbox and Formspring. He faces three counts of computer intrusion, two counts of intentional transmission of information, code, or command causing damage to a protected computer; two counts of aggravated […]

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