Let’s start with the press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Ohio:
CINCINNATI – A member of a Russian cybercrime group has been charged federally and appeared in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati today.
A federal grand jury indicted Deniss Zolotarjovs, 33, of Moscow, Russia, charging him with conspiring to commit money laundering, wire fraud and Hobbs Act extortion.
He was arrested by law enforcement in the country of Georgia in December 2023 and has remained in custody since. Georgia extradited Zolotarjovs to the United States this month.
According to court documents, Zolotarjovs is a member of a known cybercriminal organization that attacks computer systems of victims around the world. Among other things, the Russian cybercrime group steals victim data and threatens to release it unless the victim pays ransom in cryptocurrency. The group maintains a leaks and auction website that lists victim companies and offers stolen data for download.
It is alleged that Zolotarjovs was an active member of the Russian cybercrime group, communicating with other members, laundering cryptocurrency received from victims, and extorting victims. Zolotarjovs is the first alleged group member to be arrested and extradited to the United States.
Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and Elena Iatarola, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division, announced the charges. U.S. Attorney Parker and SAC Iatarola commend the FBI offices in Cleveland, San Diego, Richmond and Salt Lake City for their vital roles in the investigation and officials in Georgia for their role in the extradition. Assistant United States Attorney Megan Gaffney Painter is representing the United States in this case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance in securing Zolotarjovs’s extradition from Georgia.
An indictment merely contains allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
Oh, So THAT’s Who He Was?
The affidavit by Connor Lentz of the FBI discreetly does not name DataBreaches.net but describes some assistance this site provided (see affidavit, Exhibit D, paragraphs 18-21). DataBreaches previously reported on this site’s communications with someone claiming to be an ethical researcher and the data he had provided to this site, screenshots that were shared with the FBI with the “researcher’s” permission. The “researcher” now appears to have been Deniss Zolotarjovs.
DataBreaches notes that threat actors often try to “game” or “play” journalists. A number of threat actors have asked DataBreaches to help them make direct contact with the FBI for various reasons or alleged reasons. Some threat actors are more believable than others. As suggested in this site’s previous reporting, DataBreaches did not find Zolotarjovs’ claims of being an ethical researcher credible.