Two Russians Jailed for Hacking Financial Institutions Around the World

By Globe Afrique Media | Lawrence Kennedy |

Two Russian nationals were sentenced on Wednesday, February 14 to U.S. federal prison terms for their respective roles in a worldwide hacking and data breach scheme that targeted major corporate networks, compromised 160 million credit card numbers and resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in losses –  one of the largest such schemes ever prosecuted in the United States.

Vladimir Drinkman, 37, of Syktyvkar and Moscow, Russia, was sentenced to 12 years in prison.  Drinkman previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Simandle of the District of New Jersey to one count of conspiracy to commit unauthorized access of protected computers and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a manner affecting a financial institution.  Dmitriy Smilianets, 34, of Moscow, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a manner affecting a financial institution and was sentenced to 51 months and 21 days in prison.  Both men pleaded guilty in September 2015 before Judge Simandle, who imposed the sentences yesterday in Camden, New Jersey federal court.  In addition to the prison terms, Judge Simandle sentenced Drinkman to three years of supervised release and Smilianets to five years of supervised release.

Read more of this article