A Romanian affiliate of the NetWalker ransomware operation was sentenced to twenty years in jail this week after pleading responsible to expenses associated to finishing up cyberattacks.
Daniel Christian Hulea, 31, was extradited from Romania after being arrested in July 2023. He pleaded responsible to laptop fraud conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy on June 20 in a Florida federal court docket.
Justice Division prosecutors stated Hulea admitted to incomes as much as $21.5 million from NetWalker ransomware assaults. The group was well-known for attacking hospitals and the healthcare sector through the COVID-19 pandemic and opportunistically attacked dozens of firms, municipalities, faculties and extra.
As a part of his 20-year plea deal, Hulea agreed to forfeit the $21.5 million and a resort in Bali that he obtained via cash earned from ransomware assaults. He will even need to pay one other $15 million in fines and penalties.
Based on court docket paperwork, Hulea was a part of a crew of European cybercriminals utilizing varied platforms to launch ransomware assaults. A number of alleged builders of instruments utilized by NetWalker associates have been arrested in Poland final yr. A part of Hulea’s plea settlement entails collaborating within the prosecution of different cybercriminals.
Hulea is the most recent NetWalker affiliate to face expenses and prolonged sentences. The FBI and Justice Division conducted a coordinated takedown of the group’s operations in January 2021, seizing cryptocurrency and charging Canadian affiliate Sebastien Vachon-Desjardins.
Vachon-Desjardins was later sentenced to 20 years in prison after U.S. District Choose William Jung stated he was “Jesse James meets the twenty first century.”
“You’ve gotten one of many worst circumstances I’ve ever seen,” the decide stated, later suggesting he would have sentenced Vachon-Desjardins to life in jail if his case had gone to trial.
Vachon-Desjardins also faced charges in Canada and was compelled to pay restitution to a number of firms broken by his ransomware assaults.
U.S. investigators stated the ransomware gang’s record of victims could exceed 1,500 based mostly on the knowledge they discovered on the hackers’ servers, but simply 115 entities truly filed a police report.
Total, NetWalker ransomware is chargeable for greater than 5,000 bitcoin (at present price about $146.6 million) in extortion funds, prosecutors have stated.
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