NEW YORK, January 7. / TASS /: The federal court for the Southern District of New York has sentenced Russian citizen Andrei Tyurin, who pleaded guilty to a number of cybercrimes in the United States, to 12 years in prison. The sentence was announced on Thursday during the court session held via telephone.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain said Tyurin was sentenced to "a total of 144 months in prison."As she believes, Tyurin was involved in "large-scale criminal activities, financial in nature." "He is allegedly involved in cyber attacks on large American companies in order to obtain "customer data." Swain stated that the Russian did not directly try to steal money from other people. She stressed that she considered Tyurin's "sincere repentance."
Swain clarified that the Tyurin, according to preliminary estimates, has to reimburse about $ 19 mln. Further hearings are expected to be held later this year. The judge said that when sentencing him, she took into account that the conditions of Tyurin's detention in the United States were "unusually difficult" in light of the pandemic. In prison, he contracted the new coronavirus. Swain stated that Tyurin had been an "ethical hacker" for some time before his arrest and helped to identify software vulnerabilities. As Swain explained, after his release, he will be deported to Russia. He agreed with this.
Tyurin, who is currently in jail in Brooklyn, New York, said during the meeting that he was doing well. "I have committed a crime, and I am responsible for it," he said. His lawyer Florian Midel drew attention to the fact that his wife and daughter are waiting for his return. The lawyer also stressed that Tyurin had stopped engaging in illegal hacking activities even before his arrest, and was also "on the way to rectification." Midel noted that after being infected with the coronavirus, Tyurin was practically "not given any medicine" in prison. He was unable to communicate with his family in detention, and experienced difficulties, as he hardly speaks English, the lawyer added. At the hearing, a representative of the prosecutor's office stated that Tyurin allegedly "tried to destroy evidence" of his case.
Tyurin was extradited to the United States from Georgia in September 2018. The American authorities charged him with hacking into the computer systems of financial structures, brokerage houses and the media specializing in the publication of economic information. Secret Service officials claimed that the he was involved in "the largest ever theft of customer data from US financial institutions." They noted that Tyurin could be sentenced to imprisonment for up to 92 years. The Russian initially declared his innocence. According to court records, in September 2019, Tyurin made a deal with the prosecutor's office. He pleaded guilty to several counts. The US Secret Service claimed that Tyurin and his accomplices "embezzled hundreds of millions of dollars.".
