Alexander Tverdokhlebov, 29, a former Russian national, now a US citizen living in Los Angeles, was convicted of running a banking trojan botnet.

Tverdokhlebovs crime wave started in 2008 when he joined some Russian-speaking underground hacking forums. He learned his trade, exchange hacking tools, illegal services, and stolen personal and financial information.

He became active from 2009 to 2013 when he created a botnet of nearly 500,000 infected PCs from which he was able to steal over 40,000 payment card numbers.

He collected and sold stolen card numbers and used a "money mule" to cash out the stolen funds from victims bank accounts.

His schemes ran undetected until February 2017 when authorities finally discovered his real name and arrested him.

Authorities are estimating that he did damage amounting to between $9.5 and $25 million. After his arrest, they found keys to four safe-deposit boxes. The boxes held funds amounting to $272,000.

Tverdokhlebov pleaded guilty on March 31 and was sentenced to nine years in prison with three years of supervised probation without computer access.

Source: Bleeping Computer