WASHINGTON, November 20. /TASS/. Staff members of Russia’s embassy in the US have visited alleged Russian hacker Alexei Burkov in a detention center in Virginia, who was earlier extradited from Israel to the US, the Russian embassy in Washington said on Tuesday.
"The embassy’s staff members visited in Alexandria Federal Detention Center, Virginia, Russian national Burkov, who had been extradited from Israel to the United States. We maintain contact with Alexei, his relatives and his lawyer. We provide our national with every necessary consular and legal assistance. We will make efforts to ensure that his legal rights and interests are observed," the diplomats commented.
Earlier, a federal court in Alexandria upheld Burkov’s arrest. Presiding Judge John Anderson explained the decision saying that the Russian had been recently extradited to the US and he had no family or friends there, although he had them outside the United States.
Russian national Alexei Burkov faces up to 80 years in prison on charges of several counts of fraud, money laundering, computer intrusions and conspiracy to commit fraud. Washington accuses Burkov of running a website called 'Cardplanet' that sold payment card numbers stolen primarily through computer intrusions. Many of the cards offered for sale belonged to US citizens. The stolen credit card data from more than 150,000 compromised payment cards was allegedly sold on Burkov's site and resulted in over $20 mln in fraudulent purchases made on US credit cards, according to the US Department of Justice.
The Russian national is also accused of running online Cybercrime Forum that served as an invite-only club where elite cybercriminals could meet in a secure location to plan various cybercrimes, to buy and sell stolen goods and services, such as personal identifying information and malicious software, and other criminal services, such as money laundering and hacking devices.
Burkov was brought to the United States on November 18 evening after he was extradited from Israel, and the next day he was taken to a federal court in Alexandria.
Israeli Justice Minister Amir Ohana signed a warrant greenlighting Burkov’s extradition to the United States on October 30. The Russian’s defense appealed the decision on November 3, while Burkov himself filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of Israel that the warrant be overturned. The Supreme Court rejected the appeal on November 10.
Burkov was detained during a passport check at Washington’s request while trying to leave Israel in December 2015. The US authorities insisted on his extradition as Burkov is suspected of conspiracy to commit access device fraud, identity theft and money laundering. Moscow earlier also sent a request for Burkov’s extradition. His case was considered by a court in Jerusalem behind closed doors.
Russian Special Presidential Envoy for the Middle East and Africa Mikhail Bogdanov held a meeting with Israel’s Charge d'Affaires Yacov Livne on Tuesday and expressed regret over the Israeli authorities’ decision to extradite the Russian national to the US. According to Bogdanov, "such actions run counter to constructive partnership between Russia and Israel, which has been progressing in the past years."