MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/. Moscow’s Tverskoy Court has ruled to keep in custody all eight members of the REvil hacking group responsible for ransomware attacks, who were earlier apprehended by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) following the US request, the court’s press service told TASS on Saturday.
"On January 15, 2020, Moscow’s Tverskoy District Court selected two-month custody as a restriction measure for Alexey Puzerevsky, suspected of committing a crime under Part 2 Article 187 of Russia’s Criminal Code (illegal turnover of payment funds)," the press service said.
"A total of eight individuals, who had earlier been brought to the court for a restriction measure to be selected for them, have been arrested," it added.
Earlier, the court ruled that other suspects - Dmitry Korotayev, Artem Zayets and Alexey Malozemov - would be remanded in custody for two months.
All the eight individuals are suspected of committing a crime stipulated under Part 2 of Article 187 of Russia’s Criminal Code (illegal turnover of payment funds). This crime is punishable with up to seven years in prison and a penalty of up to 1 million rubles (about $13,150).
The FSB said it conducted its operation alongside the Interior Ministry in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the Moscow, Leningrad and Lipetsk regions to crack down on illegal activities of the organized criminal group REvil. The FSB press service emphasized that it had set up an investigation following a request from US agencies.
REvil is considered to be one of the world’s most prominent cybercrime groups, having attacked Apple and the government of Texas, among other major targets.
The FSB earlier said it searched 25 places of residence of the 14 members of the group and seized more than 426 million rubles ($5.6 million) including denominated in cryptocurrency; $600,000; 500,000 euros; computer equipment, the crypto wallets and 20 luxury cars.