Author: Mathew J. Schwartz / Source: Bank Info Security
Anti-Malware , Fraud , Technology
Spain has approved a U.S. government request to extradite a Russian national who allegedly helped organize and profit from a prolific banking Trojan.
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But the suspect, Russian national Stanislav Lisov, 31, has until Friday to appeal the decision by the Spanish National Court in Madrid, and one of his attorneys has said that his client plans to do so.
Lisov was detained on January 13 by Spain’s Civil Guard, assisted by FBI agents, at Barcelona’s El Prat airport, when he and his wife were wrapping up their honeymoon, according to multiple press reports.
The U.S. Department of Justice couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.
A programmer by trade, Lisov has stated in court that he is innocent of the charges filed against him and has sought to have the extradition request quashed.
But according to charges detailed last week in the Spanish court, a U.S. federal grand jury has indicted Lisov – aka “Black” and “Blackf” – for crimes related to the “Neverquest” banking Trojan, based on Justice Department allegations that his actions resulted in $855,000 being stolen from U.S. banking customers between June 2012 and January 2015, according to multiple press reports.
The Neverquest malware is also known as Vawtrak and Snifula. According to court testimony, U.S. prosecutors have accused Lisov of obtaining access to servers in France and Germany that were used as part of command-and-control operations tied to Neverquest attacks, Associated Press reports.
Based on the computer abuse and fraud charges filed against Lisov as part of a two-year Justice Department investigation, he faces up to 35 years in prison, Reuters reports.
Two of Lisov’s Madrid-based attorneys – Oleg Gubarev and Juan Manuel Arroyo – could not be immediately reached for comment on the approval of the extradition…
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