Aleksey Volynskiy of Manhattan was sentenced to 37 months in prison by a US District judge for his part in an international ring that hacked into brokerage accounts at Charles Schwab. Reports from the FBI and the US Attorney’s office prosecuting the case show that Volynskiy was part of a conspiracy to hack into the accounts and launder more than $246,000, while sending a portion of the proceeds back to co-conspirators in Russia. This was in addition to him stealing 180 credit card numbers and re-selling them to an unnamed cooperating witness. The Manhattan resident was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $30 000.
The defendant’s accomplice, Alexander Bobnev, who still remains at large, hacked into the Charles Schwab brokerage accounts by infecting user computers with a trojan. After using the installed virus to collect personal information, Bobnev and his Russian co-conspirators used the details to tap into the accounts and make unauthorized transactions, subsequently moving money out of the brokerage accounts.
Volynskiy – who plead guilty to the charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, unlawful access to a protected computer, money laundering, and access device fraud – then set up various “drop” accounts, according to the US Attorney’s office, through which the money was laundered, with the defendant keeping a portion of the proceeds.