The US Ministry of Justice sentenced Vyacheslav Penchukov to imprisonment and ordered to pay $ 73 million as compensation for damage for participation in two large schemes for the distribution of malicious software. On the court decision reports Wired.
Vyacheslav Igorevich Penchukov, also known as “Tank,” a former famous DJ, has been sentenced by the US Ministry of Justice for his involvement in distributing malicious software. He was a fugitive on the FBI’s most wanted list for over a decade. Penchukov’s criminal activities came to an end in 2022 when he was apprehended in Switzerland and extradited to the USA.
The 37-year-old Penchukov pleaded guilty in February to managing the ZEUS banking virus in the 2010s as part of the Jabberzeus group and the IceDid (Bokbot) program. He has been sentenced to two concurrent 9-year prison terms with 3 years of supervised release, along with a $73 million compensation order for the damages caused.
Penchukov admitted to being a key figure in the Jabberzeus group, which used the ZEUS malicious software to infect computers and steal banking data, resulting in the loss of tens of millions of dollars from small businesses in the USA and Europe. He also played a significant role in distributing the malicious ICEDID (BOKBOT) program, enabling the theft of financial data from victims.
Since 2009, the Jabberzeus group has utilized instant messages through Jabber to engage in fraudulent activities and deploy botnets for criminal operations. Penchukov was arrested in Geneva, Switzerland, in November 2022, as the group’s banking fraud model began to decline. Their tactics involved the use of carrier programs and cryptocurrency extortion to launder money, generating over $1.1 billion in profits in 2023.