Accused hacker for hire fails in bid for release

BAIL HEARING

conspiracy to hack hundreds of millions of email accounts,” says federal prosecutor Heather Graham, a Justice Canada lawyer, in court documents filed in court arguing against his release.

“He is alleged to be one of the members of the criminal organization to have personally carried out the hacking activities, harvesting vast amounts of personal and confidential information, including passwords and personal identity details, to hand over to Russian intelligence officers.

“Some of the high-profile victims specifically targeted by Baratov included Russian government and law enforcement officials.”

Graham argued Baratov faced charges for serious offences committed in association with a criminal organization. That made the hurdle for Baratov much higher, because criminal organization allegations are treated as “reverse onus” cases, meaning instead of the government needing to convince a judge to keep a person detained, Baratov’s lawyers needed to convince Whitten he should be released.

The criminal organization refers to Baratov and his three co-accused: Dmitry Dokuchaev and Igor Sushchin — who are both officers of the Russian Federal Security Service, or FSB, which is the successor organization of the Soviet-era KGB — and Alexsey Belan, described as a notorious hacker on the FBI’s “most-wanted” list.

Authorities say Baratov and Belan were the hackers for hire who targeted email accounts on the orders of the two Russian agents. Baratov was primarily responsible for hacking Google’s Gmail accounts while Belan primarily handled Yahoo email accounts.

Graham said in court that Russia could “offer harbour and safe haven” to Baratov.

The fear is heightened by the fact that one of his coaccused, Belan, was arrested on a different matter in 2013 in Greece.

When he was released on bail pending his extradition hearing, he “promptly absconded to Russia” and is now protected by Russian officials.

Baratov could also continue his criminal hacking while on bail, Graham argued. He funded a lavish lifestyle prior to his arrest, including a large, detached home in a suburb of Hamilton, and a rotating collection of luxury cars, from Lamborghini and Porsche to Mercedes and Aston Martin.

Deepak Paradkar, one of two lawyers representing Baratov, told court not to be dazzled by the “media frenzy” surrounding the case or by the Crown’s “inflated allegations.”

He said Baratov is really accused of hacking around 80 email accounts, not the 500 million at the root of the U.S. case. Nor does his client have ties to Russia or access to immense wealth.

“There is no place to which Mr. Baratov can flee,” Paradkar said.

Baratov and both of his parents testified last week under oath, also playing down any connection to Russia or a possible illegitimate source to their son’s wealth.

Baratov said he made his money selling web-hosting services and acting as consultant for people who wanted help protecting their servers from hacking and other cyber attacks. He said he had never been to Russia.

Baratov and his family speak Russian because they came to Canada in 2007 from Kazakhstan, a former Soviet Republic.

Baratov’s father, Akhmet Tokbergenova, 56, said he did not believe the U.S. allegations, partly because his son knows how the family feels about Russia and Russian authorities, clarifying: “It is absolutely negative.”

Baratov was arrested in March at his home in the Hamilton suburb of Ancaster, where he lived on his own. His parents and older sister, Sabrina, live in a house nearby.

Shortly after his arrest, his home was sold.

If convicted in the United States, Baratov could face 20 years in prison. ton terrier while he owned a pit bull-type animal.

A witness called the police to report a woman was being attacked by two dogs. Tougas said the woman fell to the ground and was bitten on the arm by the terrier. “Then immediately the (other dog) jumped on her face,” he said.

Police shot and killed the pit bull-type dog on the scene and said they plan to have the terrier euthanized.

“Even according to the victim, the terrier was the more aggressive dog,” Tougas said. The son will not face any charges, Tougas said.