Two Ukrainian citizens have been accused of stealing the confidential financial data of U.S. companies in 2016, but the U.S. government could not catch the alleged criminals. Now, it’s asking people in other countries to help.
On July 22, the U.S. State Department announced that it is offering $2 million for any information leading to the arrest of Kyiv-born Artem Radchenko, 28, and Oleksandr Ieremenko, 29, charged with the cybercrime in January 2019.
According to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, cybercriminals, including Radchenko and Ieremenko, intruded into the computers of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that regulates the stock market in the U.S. and stole thousands of financial reports that U.S. public companies periodically submit to the SEC.
Financial reports are released to the public annually and quarterly after confidential information is removed from them. But the cyber culprits traded these reports for $4.14 million before publicly releasing them, revealing private data like the companies’ earnings, Reuters reported.
For selling confidential information, the U.S. Secret Service accused the Ukrainians of computer fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy in a 16-count indictment in January 2019.
Ukraine can help the U.S. to find the Ukrainian-born culprits because of a mutual agreement signed between countries in 1998, according to Dmytro Mazurok, an attorney from the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group.
However, if Ukraine arrests the criminals, it cannot extradite them to the U.S. because that would go against the Ukrainian Constitution.
This is not the first time the U.S. has asked for assistance from other countries to find transnational criminals, said Ukrainian cyber expert Kostiantyn Korsun. The country seeks help when it has already tried everything to locate and capture the criminals.
In 1986, the U.S. founded the Transnational Organized Crime Reward Program, which has brought 75 transnational criminals to justice. The U.S. government has paid people in other countries $130 million in rewards for information leading to these arrests.
Cybercriminals target U.S. companies and organizations because they bring in more profit, Korsun said.
According to the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers, malicious cyber activity cost the U.S. economy between $57 billion and $109 billion in 2016. Cyberattacks are the fastest growing crime in the U.S. They are increasing in size, sophistication and cost, according to another cybercrime report.
