Category Archives: U.S. Eastern District of New York

Trial delayed for former SEC watchdog accused of abusing computer access

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A federal judge in New York has agreed to postpone the trial of a former U.S. government official accused of abusing his position at the Securities and Exchange Commission to access information about his new employer. U.S. prosecutors last year charged Michael Cohn, a former examiner for the SEC, with unauthorized access of a computer and obstruction of justice. During negotiations for a job at a private equity firm, GPB Holdings, Cohn told the company he possessed inside information about an SEC investigation into their behavior, according to an indictment. The exact technical nature of the alleged crime is not clear, based on the indictment. Cohn has pleaded not guilty.  U.S. District Judge Gary Brown, of the Eastern District of New York, on Wednesday agreed to delay the start of trial to September, after it was initially scheduled to begin on June 15, Law360 first reported. The decision came in response to a letter […]

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Another Methbot suspect, Sergey Denisoff, arrested more than a year after initial charges

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U.S. police have arrested another suspect in connection with an advertising fraud conspiracy that relied on run-of-the-mill hacking techniques to scam American companies out of roughly $30 million, according to new court documents. Police in New York City this month arrested Sergey Denisoff on charges that he allegedly helped members of the Methbot ad fraud crew by setting up dummy web pages where other conspirators could direct illegitimate traffic. Members then charged U.S. advertising companies for access to visitors who didn’t actually exist. Denisoff supplied fake domains, helped Methbot members circumvent cybersecurity software meant to stop this kind of fraud and was in regular communication with alleged ringleader Aleksandr Zhukov, an NYPD detective said in an affidavit first noticed by Seamus Hughes, the deputy director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. Subsequent documents filed Jan. 19 in the Eastern District of New York indicate Denisoff was released on $100,000 bond. His […]

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Russian hacker who allegedly exploited accounting software to steal $1.5 million to plead guilty

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A Russian man accused of stealing $1.5 million as part of a scam that relied on using fraudulent tax returns to intercept cash meant for Americans is preparing to plead guilty. U.S. prosecutors charged Anton Bogdanov, known online as “Kusok,” with computer intrusion, aggravated identity theft and related charges for alleged activity between June 2014 and November 2016. Bogdanov and a team of associates used information purloined from hacked computers at American tax firms to change clients’ personal information, according to an indictment made public in April. By leveraging a security flaw in a remote access program used by accountants, Bogdanov and his crew allegedly changed client data so legitimate tax refunds would be delivered to the thieves in th form of debit cards. Bogdanov was arrested while on vacation in Thailand in November 2017 and extradited to the U.S. in March. Now, his attorney said in a Dec. 15 […]

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Two Methbot suspects set to plead guilty as alleged ringleader maintains his innocence

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Two men accused of participating in the multimillion-dollar Methbot digital-advertising fraud scheme are scheduled to plead guilty in the coming days, according to court filings from the Eastern District of New York. Sergey Ovysannikov and Yevgeniy Timchenko, both originally from Kazakhstan, are scheduled to appear in a federal courtroom in Brooklyn on Sept. 24 and Sept. 25, respectively, to enter plea agreements before Judge Steven M. Gold. Both men initially pleaded not guilty after they were extradited to the U.S. earlier this year. A third man, Methbot’s alleged ringleader, Aleksandr Zhukov, has promised to fight the charges against him. Prosecutors say the operation relied on cybercriminal techniques to defraud companies out of roughly $29 million. Few details of the plea agreements were immediately available. Arkady Bukh, defense counsel for Ovysannikov, declined to say to which counts his client intends to plead guilty. Attorneys for Timchenko did not respond Friday to phone […]

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