AFP reports:
An international team of computer hackers and stock traders was charged with pocketing more than $US100 million ($A138 million) in illicit profits based on stolen market-moving financial information, US officials announced Tuesday.
The Department of Justice charged nine people in a criminal conspiracy with making more than $US30 million ($A41.43 million) in illegal trades on the pilfered information.
A parallel civil case from the US Securities and Exchange Commission listing 32 defendants said the scheme yielded over $US100 million in unlawful profits.
The conspiracy was engineered by a pair of hackers in Ukraine who successfully penetrated the computer systems of Marketwired, PR Newswire and Business Wire, which distribute press releases for major publicly traded companies, the officials said.
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