A Russian man pleaded guilty in a US federal court on Tuesday to charges he participated in a global computer fraud conspiracy that generated millions in illicit profit, US authorities announced.
Appearing before a federal judge in the state of Minnesota, Maxim Senakh, 41, of Velikii Novgorod, Russia pleaded guilty to computer and wire fraud conspiracy charges, the US Justice Department said in a statement.
Prosecutors say Senakh used a malicious computer software known as “Ebury” to attack computers around the world. The malware harvested server log-in credentials, allowing Senakh and his co-conspirators to operate an infected network or “botnet” involving tens of thousands of servers, including some in the United States.
This allowed them to redirect internet traffic for click-fraud and email spam, drawing in millions of dollars. Senakh admitted to creating accounts with domain registrars to create the botnet and to personally profiting himself.
Sentencing is scheduled to occur in August, the Justice Department said.
Senakh was extradited from Finland in January of last year after Finnish authorities arrested him on the Russian border in August 2015 as he was returning him from a vacation. Russian officials objected strongly at the time.
Senakh’s arrest and extradition were sensitive, given that Finland shares an 830-mile (1,340-kilometer) border with Russia and Helsinki has worked to maintain stable relations with Moscow since the end of World War II.
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