3 Estonian men get prison sentences in massive cyber scam case

Baku. 24 July. REPORT.AZ/ On Thursday three Estonian men were sentenced to over three years in prison for their roles in an Internet scheme that infected more than 4 million computers in over 100 countries, Report informs citing foreign media. 

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan imposed the sentences in Manhattan federal court, bemoaning the steady influx of computer crime cases across the globe. "It's hard to pick up a newspaper this summer without reading about another one," Kaplan said as he explained why it was necessary to impose tough sentences on three men who seemed "extremely remorseful."

Kaplan said he wanted it to be known that those who breach the security of computers on a large scale will "face very substantial risks."

Timur Gerassimenko, 35, was sentenced to four years, Dmitri Jegorov, 37, got 3 2/3 years and Konstantin Poltev, 31, received 3 1/3 years for their roles in a computer fraud that stretched from 2007 to 2011, when the men were arrested in Estonia. Gerassimenko was ordered to forfeit $2.5 million while Jegorov and Poltev were each told to forfeit $1 million.

Prosecutors say the men and others made more than $14 million with a scheme that infected over a half-million computers in the United States alone. The fraud affected computers belonging to government agencies such as NASA, along with educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, businesses and individuals.