Mark Vartanyan, who operated under the handle “Kolypto”, was arrested in Norway last year, and extradited to America in December. The 29-year-old was charged with one count of computer fraud. On Monday, he pleaded guilty [PDF] to a district court in Atlanta, US. He faces up to 10 years in the clink and a $250,000 fine – that’s slashed from a maximum of 25 years due to his guilty plea. He will be sentenced in June.
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Citadel surfaced in 2011, infected Windows PCs, and silently slurped victims’ online banking credentials so their money could be siphoned into crooks’ pockets. It could also snoop on computer screens and hold files to ransom. It was a remarkable success. US prosecutors estimate that, at its height, the malware infected 11 million computers and was responsible for the theft of more than $500m from bank accounts.
Source: Russian mastermind of $500m bank-raiding Citadel coughs to crimes
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