Estonian court confirms extradition of hacker to US

© RIA Novosti

17:19 17/06/2014

TALLINN, June 17 – RAPSI, Nikolai Adashkevich. The ruling to extradite Estonian citizen Vladimir Chashchin to the US will remain valid after the City Court refused to hear the defense’s appeal, the court press service announced Tuesday.

In mid-May, the Estonian government resolved to extradite Chashchin to the US where he is charged with 27 international cybercrimes.

In November 2011, as a result of a joint operation by US and Estonian law enforcement agencies, dubbed Ghost Click, six men and one woman were arrested in Tartu and in the suburbs of Tallinn on suspicion of international cyber fraud and money laundering. All the detainees are citizens of Estonia.

The Estonian police found that the group of fraudsters had been operating since 2007. The hackers infected computers with malicious software when users tried to access, for example, iTunes, Netfix or websites of some government agencies, including NASA and the US Internal Revenue Service. According to Estonian prosecutors, the suspects took almost $21.5 million and 560,000 euros through illegal means.

Last December, the Kharyusky District Court found Chashchin and four other defendants innocent due to a lack of evidence. The court, nevertheless, ordered that the suspects remain in custody because of the US extradition request. The court also ruled that the extradition was legally warranted. Three of the hackers have already been extradited to the US.