The FBI today linked Nigerian Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, a.k.a Hushpuppi, who is currently incarcerated in California awaiting trial for cyber fraud, to North Korean hackers who are said to be the world’s biggest bank robbers.
In a detailed statement issued Friday, the Justice Department stated that Mr Abbas was involved in a “North Korean-perpetrated cyber-enabled heist from a Maltese bank in February 2019.”
His role was as a collaborator with Ghaleb Alaumary, a North Korean money launderer based in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.
The FBI charged Alaumary, 37, today in connection with a number of criminal schemes. Three of the others are North Koreans.
According to the statement, “Alaumary agreed to plead guilty to the charge, which was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in Los Angeles on November 17, 2020.”
“Alaumary was a prolific money launderer for hackers involved in ATM cash-out schemes, cyber-enabled bank heists, Business Email Compromise (BEC) schemes, and other forms of online fraud.” The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia is also prosecuting Alaumary for his involvement in a separate BEC scheme.
“In terms of North Korean co-conspirators’ activities, Alaumary organised teams of co-conspirators in the United States and Canada to launder millions of dollars obtained through ATM cash-out operations, including from BankIslami and an Indian bank in 2018.”
According to the statement, “Alaumary also conspired with Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, aka ‘Ray Hushpuppi,’ and others to launder funds from a North Korean-perpetrated cyber-enabled heist from a Maltese bank in February 2019.”
Mr. Abbas already has his own case.
In a separate case last year, the US Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles charged him with conspiring to launder hundreds of millions of dollars from BEC frauds and other scams.
The Justice Department described the Maltese bank attack as “a $14.7 million cyber-heist from a foreign financial institution” in a July statement.
“Both the date and the amount match that of the February 2019 attack on Malta’s Bank of Valletta,” Forbes reported.
Mr Abbas, 38, was apprehended last year in Dubai.
He arrived in the United States on July 3 to face criminal charges for allegedly making “hundreds of millions of dollars” from business email compromise frauds and other scams.
His trial was supposed to start late last year, but it was pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A federal indictment unsealed today charges three North Korean computer programmers with participating in a broad criminal conspiracy to carry out a series of destructive cyberattacks, steal and extort more than $1.3 billion in money and cryptocurrency from financial institutions and businesses, and create and deploy multiple malicious cryptocurrency applications.
A federal indictment unsealed today charges three North Korean computer programmers with participating in a wide-ranging criminal conspiracy to conduct a series of destructive cyberattacks, steal and extort more than $1.3 billion in money and cryptocurrency from financial institutions and companies, develop and fraudulently market a blockchain platform.
In a second case revealed today, a Canadian-American citizen agreed to plead guilty in a money-laundering scheme and admitted to being a high-level money launderer for multiple criminal schemes, including ATM “cash-out” operations and a cyber-enabled bank heist orchestrated by North Korean hackers.
“As laid out in today’s indictment, North Korean operatives are the world’s leading bank robbers, using keyboards rather than guns and stealing digital wallets of cryptocurrency rather than sacks of cash,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
“With our unique tools, the Department will continue to confront malicious nation-state cyber activity, and we will collaborate with our fellow agencies and the family of norm-abiding nations to do the same.”
“Today’s unsealed indictment expands on the FBI’s 2018 charges for the North Korean regime’s unprecedented cyberattacks,” said FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate.
“The FBI’s outstanding, persistent investigative efforts in close collaboration with US and foreign partners met North Korea’s ongoing targeting, compromise, and cyber-enabled theft from global victims.” The FBI continues to impose consequences and hold North Korea accountable for its/their criminal cyber activity by arresting facilitators, seizing funds, and charging those responsible for the hacking conspiracy.”
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“The North Korean hackers’ criminal conduct was extensive and long-running, and the range of crimes they committed is staggering,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Tracy L. Wilkison for the Central District of California.
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