JPMorgan hackers eyed 14 other firms

Officials say breach was ‘ breathtaking in its scope and its size’

The hackers who breached JPMorgan Chase’s systems last year were involved in a widespread scheme that targeted 14 other companies, including a Boston- based mutual fund firm, several online brokerages and The Wall Street Journal.

The hackers pulled off the “largest theft of customer data from a U. S. financial institution in history,” stealing personal information of more than 100 million people — including more than 80 million from one financial institution alone, according to Manhattan U. S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s office.

At a press conference Tuesday, Bharara described the data breach as “breathtaking in its scope and its size,” saying the hacking was done to support a series of stock- manipulation schemes, as well as gambling and payment- processing schemes.

Prosecutors declined to name the firms targeted, but several companies came forward Tuesday to claim their part in the in- vestigation, including JPMorgan, TD Ameritrade and online brokerage Scottrade.

The indictment named the alleged hackers as Gery Shalon of Israel, Joshua Samuel Aaron, a U. S. citizen, and Ziv Orenstein, also of Israel. Shalon and Orenstein were arrested in Israel in July. They were reportedly linked to the JPMorgan hack at the time, but the allegations were not made official until this week.

Aaron, who is believed to be in Eastern Europe, remains at large and is wanted by the FBI.

Bitcoin operator Anthony Murgio of Florida also was tied to the alleged scheme but charged in a separate indictment for running an unlicensed money transmitting business.

Murgio ran Coin. mx, which Shalon owned and controlled, prosecutors said. He is scheduled to be arraigned before Judge Alison Nathan, also of the Southern District of New York.

Shalon, Orenstein and Aaron were accused of pursuing the widespread cybercrime to support their other criminal enterprises, including a pump- anddump stock scheme.

The hacks occurred between 2012 to mid- 2015, but the men were accused of criminal activity going back to 2007 that earned them hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit profits.

“The best bet to identify, stop and punish cybercriminals is to work closely, and early, with law enforcement. That happened here, and today’s charges are proof of that.” Manhattan U. S. Attorney Preet

Bharara

MARK LENNIHAN, AP “We continue to cooperate with law enforcement in fighting cybercrime,” JPMorgan Chase said in an emailed statement.