Rabotnik, Affiliate of Ransomware Group REvil, Sentenced to 13 Years in Jail

Yaroslav Vasinskyi, the Ukrainian national who is also known as Rabotnik, has been sentenced to 13 years and seven months in prison for his role in conducting over 2,500 ransomware attacks and demanding over $700 million in ransom payments, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.

The sentencing is part of a wider crackdown on ransomware groups which U.S. President Joe Biden promised in Nov. 2021. That promise came after REvil demanded $70 million in bitcoin (BTC) after hacking Miami-based software provider Kaseya.

In March 2022, on requests from the U.S., Russian authorities raided and dismantled REvil.

“As this sentencing shows, the Justice Department is working with our international partners and using all tools at our disposal to identify cybercriminals, capture their illicit profits, and hold them accountable for their crimes,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland.

Rabotnik, 24, has also been ordered to pay over $16 million in restitution for his role as an affiliate of the groups that use the ransomware variant known as Sodinokibi or REvil to demand payments in cryptocurrency and using mixing services to “hide their ill-gotten gains.”

Previously, Rabotnik was extradited to the U.S. from Poland and then pleaded guilty to an 11-count indictment charging him with “conspiracy to commit fraud and related activity in connection with computers, damage to protected computers, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.”

In 2023, the DOJ confiscated nearly 40 bitcoin, worth nearly $2.3 million based on current prices, and $6.1 million in funds traceable to ransom payments received by other conspirators.

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