BANK RING CATCH
Russian is No. 4 suspect in massive JPM breach
The noose is tightening around the band of crooks who pulled off the largest cyber-hack of a single bank in US history.
After years of tracking the fourth member of the alleged criminal enterprise — the only one still on the loose — US authorities on Friday got their man, Andrei Tyurin.
The 35-year-old Russian, who prosecutors claim was the equivalent to the trigger man during the 2012-15 attacks on JPMorgan Chase, Fidelity, E*Trade, Scottrade, Dow Jones and others, appeared before a judge in Manhattan federal court after the US won extradition from the Republic of Georgia.
Tyurin and his cohorts stole info on more than 100 million customers at roughly 12 financial institutions, prosecutors charge — including account numbers, passwords, birthdates and Social Security numbers from 83 million JPM customers, the bank told the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Getting Tyurin on American soil wasn’t easy as Russia did not want to turn over the native, according to reports.
The suspect was likely vacationing in Georgia (a big Russian tourist destination), and Georgia, which does not have the best relationship with Russia, extradited him, lawyer Arkady Bukh, who represents Gery Shalon, another defendant in the case, told The Post.
Tyurin appeared in court in a white T-shirt, black pants and sneakers after a plane carrying him and federal agents landed at Stewart International Airport Friday afternoon. He pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors charged Tyurin with conspiracy, hacking and identity theft. He allegedly worked as part of a cybergang led by Shalon, 33, an Israeli who was the alleged mastermind behind the crime spree.
Ultimately, gangs buy stolen bank accounts and use them in a variety of ways — including in US malls to buy Apple products, Bukh said.
Also charged with the massive cyber-heist is Ziv Orenstein, an Israeli brought to the US with Shalon, and Joshua Samuel Aaron, 34, an American, who surrendered in December 2016 after hiding out in Moscow.
Bukh would not comment on his client’s rumored cooperation, and said he “suspects” the other two defendants are cooperating.
Most often, New York prosectors release hackers for time served if they truly cooperate with the government, Bukh said.
Preet Bharara, the Manhattan US attorney at the time, called Shalom’s criminal cyber gang work “hacking as a business model.”
One scam involved a pumpand-dump, according to court papers.
The group controlled a number of publicly traded shell companies and would market the stock in those companies to the victims of the hack, it is alleged.
Once the victims bought the stock and the price increased, Tyurin and the others would sell their shares for a profit, it is alleged.
Tyurin might prove to be valuable to prosecutors beyond the JPM cyber-heist.
He likely shared customer information with the Russians who might have used the passwords of powerful people to hack into their e-mails, Bukh said, as many people use the same passwords for all online accounts.