WASHINGTON, June 26. /TASS/. A US court has sentenced Russian citizen Alexei Burkov to nine years in jail for hacking.

Last week the prosecution requested a 15-year term for Burkov, while the defense insisted on no more than seven years.

Burkov pled guilty on two counts. He will spend 108 months in a penitentiary near Alexandria. His lawyer kept quiet when asked if the defense would protest the sentence. An appeal can be filed within ten days.

 

Burkov case

 

Burkov in January concluded a plea bargain with the US law enforcers and pled guilty to theft of personal data, money laundering and hacking. Originally, he faced a maximum prison term of 15 years. He signed the plea bargain on January 23.

Burkov was detained in Israel on December 13, 2015 at a US request and charged with fraud, collusion, theft of personal data and money laundering. His extradition to the US followed on November 11, 2019. According to the prosecution Burkov in 2009-2013 ran the website Cardplanet that was selling the stolen numbers of credit cards, many of them belonging to US citizens. He is said to have been an accomplice to the theft of data of 150,000 cards and fraudulent purchases more than $20 million worth. Also, the prosecution believes that Burkov organized a forum that served as a club where cybercriminals could advertise the stolen assets, such as personal data, as well as computer malware and criminal services - money laundering and hacking.

At first Burkov pled not guilty, but before trial by jury he agreed to cooperate with the investigation and acknowledged some charges.