indictment
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Feds charge former MoviePass execs with securities and wire fraud
The former executives in charge of MoviePass have been indicted in what the Justice Department calls "a scheme to defraud investors."
Nikola founder Trevor Milton indicted on fraud charges
Milton allegedly lied about 'nearly all aspects' of the EV business.
Netflix faces a criminal charge over controversial movie ‘Cuties’
A Texas grand jury indicted the company over alleged lewd depiction of a child.
US charges two Chinese hackers with trying to steal COVID-19 research
Today, the US Justice Department charged two Chinese hackers with targeting US COVID-19 research.
Huawei accuses US Justice Department of 'political persecution'
One day after the US Justice Department announced 16 new charges against Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer has responded. In a lengthy statement, the company defends its track record, and accuses the US government of "using the strength of an entire nation to come after a private company."
Justice Department charges Huawei with stealing trade secrets, again
The US Justice Department has charged Huawei and two US subsidiaries with racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to steal trade secrets. A 16-count superseding indictment, filed yesterday in Brooklyn, New York, adds to previous US charges filed against Huawei last January. The indictment names several defendants, including Huawei's Chief Financial Officer Wanzhou Meng, who is already facing fraud accusations and could serve years in prison.
DOJ charges two Russians with using malware to steal millions
Officials are offering a $5 million reward for information that leads to the capture of Maksim Yakubets of Moscow. Yakubets is one of two Russian nationals charged with cybercrimes that resulted in tens of millions in losses. The $5 million reward is the largest amount offered for a cyber criminal's capture to date.
US charges Julian Assange with violating the Espionage Act
Federal prosecutors have charged WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange with 17 more criminal counts, including accusations that he violated the Espionage Act. The US charged him last month with conspiracy to commit computer hacking following his arrest in London. The superseding indictment includes that previous charge.
US charges China-based hacking group for massive 2015 Anthem breach
Four years after hackers committed one of the worst data breaches in history, the US Justice Department has charged a "sophisticated China-based hacking group" with the attacks. An indictment released yesterday charges two members of the group, Fuji Wang and another listed as John Doe, with four counts of conspiracy and intentional damage. According to the indictment, Wang and Doe allegedly broke into and stole data from computer networks in four distinct business sectors. The most high-profile hit was the 2015 Anthem breach, in which prosecutors say the hackers stole personal information from nearly 80 million people.
Russian woman indicted for interfering with 2018 US midterm elections
US officials aren't waiting until after the midterm elections to take legal action against interference efforts. Federal authorities have charged Russian national Elena Khusyaynova for allegedly serving as the primary accountant for Project Lakhta, an influence campaign that targeted the US midterms as well as foreigners in the US, European Union member states, the Ukraine and even some Russian audiences. Khusyaynova reportedly managed expenses for activists, social networking ads and news post promotions, domain name registrations and proxy servers.
Microsoft executive allegedly attempted to embezzle $1.5 million
Jeff Tran, Microsoft's former director of sports marketing and alliances, was charged with five counts of wire fraud this week for allegedly trying to embezzle $1.5 million from his former employer. He's also accused of stealing and selling more than 60 Super Bowl tickets belonging to Microsoft, pocketing over $200,000 in the process.
Three men arrested for stealing over 15 million payment cards
US officials announced today that three alleged leaders of the cybercrime group known alternatively as Fin7, Carbanak and the Navigator Group have been arrested in Germany, Poland and Spain and charged with 26 felony counts. The charges include conspiracy, wire fraud, computer hacking, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft. The Department of Justice alleges that Fin7 members have targeted more than 100 US companies, hacked thousands of computer systems and stolen 15 million credit and debit card numbers. The group is said to have breached networks in 47 states and Washington, DC and hacked 6,500 point-of-sale terminals at over 3,600 business locations.
'WannaCry hero' faces more federal malware charges
Marcus Hutchins, the cybersecurity researcher credited with helping stop last year's WannaCry virus, is facing four new charges related to malware he allegedly created to steal financial information. Now, the FBI says Hutchins lied about creating the malware called Kronos, and that he conspired with others to promote it online, including via YouTube.
Backpage.com officials indicted following FBI shutdown
Last week, the US government seized the classified website Backpage.com, disabled it, and replaced its front page with a disclaimer announcing its shutdown. The site's cofounders had been the subject of law enforcement investigations into pimping, sex trafficking and money-laundering over the years. Today, a grand jury in Phoenix indicted seven officials associated with the website with alleged money laundering and facilitating prostitution.
DOJ indicts nine Iranians for state-sponsored hacking effort
This morning, the Department of Justice announced that nine Iranians have been indicted for an alleged hacking campaign affecting 320 universities around the world, 144 of which were US institutions. The individuals are believed to have been working for the Iranian government and have been accused of stealing research from the affected institutions. They've been indicted on seven federal crimes including computer fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy and identity theft.
US indicts 13 Russian nationals for alleged election tampering
Today, the office of special counsel Robert Mueller announced that a federal jury has indicted 13 Russian nationals on charges of conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to defraud the US. The charges mean that these individuals are now officially wanted by the US government, though actual arrests may be hard to come by. "Defendant Internet Research Agency LLC is a Russian organization engaged in operations to interfere with elections and political processes," says the indictment. "Beginning as early as 2014, [it] began operations to interfere with the US political system, including the 2016 US presidential election."
German prosecution charges HP staff with bribing Russian officials to clinch PC contract
The legal system's engines can take awhile to get churning, but there's no questioning the impact when they're at full bore. German prosecutors have wrapped up an almost three-year investigation into allegations of HP managers' bribery by charging the executives involved. Hilmar Lorenz, Päivi Tiippana and Ken Willett, along with claimed accomplice Ralf Krippner, have all been indicted for supposedly funneling €7.5 million ($9.7 million) in bribes through a German subsidiary and far-flung shell accounts to land a €35 million ($45.3 million) PC supply deal with Russia's Prosecutor General Office early in the previous decade. While only the people directly attached to the scandal currently face any consequences if found guilty, German lawyers are motioning to have the PC builder attached to the case, and there's a chance the formal charges could fuel an ongoing US investigation. HP is cooperating even as it's trying to distance itself from the indictments as much as possible -- these are for old allegations and a "former HP company," it says. While we don't yet know the whole story, it may be a protracted tale knowing that at least Tiippana and Willett plan to fight the accusations.
Khalid Shaikh, prolific app creator and former YouSendIt CEO, busted by FBI
Khalid Shaikh has been indicted by a grand jury for four counts of mail fraud. The FBI says Shaikh was involved in 4 denial of service attacks against the the firm he founded, YouSendIt, which crippled the content delivery company's servers. According to the FBI, Shaikh was one of YouSendIt's founders when the company was established in 2004. He served as the company's chief executive officer until August 2005. He then served as the company's chief technology officer until he left the company in November 2006. In August, Mobile Crunch reported that Shaikh had been banned from the iPhone app store after creating more than 900 useless apps that were mostly links to websites. How they got through the app approval process is another story. For his part, Shaikh claims he is innocent. The maximum penalty for each count of mail fraud is five years imprisonment, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000, plus restitution if appropriate. [Via The Alarm Clock]
Three more executives indicted in LCD price fixing scheme
Protip, if you were involved in LCD price fixing between 2001 - 2006, just turn yourself in because the U.S. Department of Justice is still coming. To the surprise of anyone who thought the last couple months of guilty pleas and fines were the end, a DOJ statement today spells out indictments returned by a federal grand jury in San Francisco against two former Chungwha Picture Tube execs and one from LG Display. All the legal details in the case against Cheng Yuan Lin, Wen Jun Cheng and Duk Mo Koo are in the statement beyond the read link, but hey man, we're still waiting on our refunds.[Via Reuters]
