Three Russian nationals allegedly scammed Americans in 21 states out of more than $63 million, according to a December 2024 indictment that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio unsealed Tuesday.
The trio — Alexander Alexandrovich Volosovik, 43, Kirill Andreevich Zatolokin, 34, and Yulia Vladimirovna Pankova, 29 — conducted “malicious cyber activities against U.S. critical infrastructure” through their St. Petersburg, Russia-based companies Media Land, LLC and ML.Cloud, LLC, according to federal prosecutors.
“From their overseas safe haven, these defendants ran the criminal infrastructure that powered attacks on critical institutions across our nation,” Department of Justice Criminal Division Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva said in a statement.
“Their actions put the American public at risk. We will continue to dismantle these networks and protect our critical infrastructure from cybercriminals at home and abroad.”
A grand jury indicted the trio on charges of conspiracy to commit and aid and abet computer fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering in December 2024.
The U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program is offering up to $10 million for information on foreign government-linked associates of the trio or for affiliates of their companies.
The U.S. and allied countries levied sanctions on the companies in 2025.
Media Land and MLCloud, according to the indictment, provided hosting services and information technology infrastructure for business both in the U.S. and abroad. Specifically, the groups offered “bulletproof hosting” services meant to be used by those trying to evade detection by law enforcement.
Credit: Foxnews.com
