Russian national faces federal prison in ransomware and computer botnet scheme

A Russian national was sentenced to two years in U.S. federal prison and ordered to pay over $1.6 million as a result of a ransomware and computer botnet scheme, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan said. 

The sentencing took place on Monday in federal court in Detroit. U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Edmunds issued the two-year prison sentence along with a fine of $100,000 and a money judgment of $1.6 million. 

Ilya Angelov, 40, of Tolyatti, Russia, had previously pleaded guilty to managing the operation of a botnet that was used to launch ransomware attacks on the networks of dozens of U.S. corporations, the district attorney's office said. A botnet is a network of computers that are compromised by malware and then controlled remotely through those bots. 

The criminal activity in this investigation took place between 2017 and 2021. 

The district attorney's office said he co-managed a cybercriminal group based in Russia that the FBI called the Mario Kart botnet. Private security researchers also knew the group under other names such as TA-551, Shathak, GOLD CABIN, Monster Libra, ATK236 and G0127. 

In this case, authorities said, the access was sold to other criminal groups that participated in ransomware schemes. 

The FBI has identified over 70 companies in the United States that had devices infected with ransomware by one organization that was linked to Angelov's network, which resulted in over $14 million in extortion payments.  

Another group involved in ransomware paid the network over $1 million for access to the botnet. 

This case was investigated by the FBI Detroit Cyber Task Force with the assistance of the Dutch and German authorities. The Department of Justice's Office of International Affairs also provided critical assistance in this investigation, the district attorney's office said.

"May this sentencing serve as a strong message to cyber criminals who believe they can hide behind screens and false identities: you cannot escape the FBI's reach. You will be held accountable," said Special Agent in Charge Jennifer Runyan of the FBI Detroit Field Office. "This successful investigation reflects the FBI's ongoing commitment to identifying, tracking, and dismantling the criminal networks that financially exploit individuals and U.S. corporations.