Manhattan federal court has sentenced over three years imprisonment to three Estonian men for their involvement in an Internet scheme that infected more than 4 million computers in over 100 countries.
U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said that, "It's hard to pick up a newspaper this summer without reading about another one." Justifying his decision he said it was important to impose tough sentence.
Timur Gerassimenko, 35, was sentenced to four years, Dmitri Jegorov, 37, got 3 2/3 years and Konstantin Poltev, 31, received 3 1/3 years for their roles in an internet fraud.
According to the government, Gerassimenko was the main culprit behind this fraud, he hired programmers, Jegorov as the lead network administrator while Poltev as the public face of the enterprise.
When the men were arrested in Estonia, Gerassimenko was ordered to forfeit $2.5 million while Jegorov and Poltev were each told to forfeit $1 million. All three of them apologized for their crimes before they were sentenced.
The fraud has affected computers belonging to government agencies such as NASA, along with educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, businesses and individuals.
The malware scheme that was carried out with co-conspirators in Russia and Ukraine, cost NASA more than $65,000 in repairs.
All three men sentenced Thursday are serving sentences in Estonia for similar crime.
U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said that, "It's hard to pick up a newspaper this summer without reading about another one." Justifying his decision he said it was important to impose tough sentence.
Timur Gerassimenko, 35, was sentenced to four years, Dmitri Jegorov, 37, got 3 2/3 years and Konstantin Poltev, 31, received 3 1/3 years for their roles in an internet fraud.
According to the government, Gerassimenko was the main culprit behind this fraud, he hired programmers, Jegorov as the lead network administrator while Poltev as the public face of the enterprise.
When the men were arrested in Estonia, Gerassimenko was ordered to forfeit $2.5 million while Jegorov and Poltev were each told to forfeit $1 million. All three of them apologized for their crimes before they were sentenced.
The fraud has affected computers belonging to government agencies such as NASA, along with educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, businesses and individuals.
The malware scheme that was carried out with co-conspirators in Russia and Ukraine, cost NASA more than $65,000 in repairs.
All three men sentenced Thursday are serving sentences in Estonia for similar crime.