UNDATED - Two of the nine defendants in an international computer hacking and securities fraud scheme are being held in the Hall County Jail.
New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman and Acting U.S. Attorney Kelly Currie, Eastern District of New York, announced the indictment Tuesday.
Four of the men in the indictment have known Georgia ties, according to a news release from the New York Office of the FBI.
Leonid Momotok, 47, of Suwanee and Alexander Garkusha, 47, of Cumming and Alpharetta were indicted in the Eastern District of New York. They each were charged with wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud conspiracy, securities fraud and money laundering conspiracy.
Momotok and Garkusha were taken into custody Tuesday morning when the indictments were unsealed. Adrienne Senatore, writer and editor for the FBI New York Office of Public Affairs, said both men were arrested at their homes without incident.
Forsyth County Sheriff's Deputy Robin Regan confirmed that deputies assisted with the arrests. He referred all other comment to the FBI.
As of Thursday afternoon, the Hall County Jail roster still listed Momotok and Garkusha with federal holds. The Hall County Jail is a federal holding facility, according to Hall County Sheriff's Deputy Nicole Bailes.
The other two defendants with north Georgia ties were indicted in the New Jersey District. Arkadiy Dubovoy, 51, and Igor Dubovoy, 28, both of Alpharetta were also arrested at their homes Tuesday morning, according to the FBI.
The international hacking scheme allegedly raked in $100 million between 2010 and 2015. Authorities called it the biggest case of its kind ever prosecuted.
Investigators believe the scheme involved hacking public relations companies' computers to access press releases that were about to be issued by Marketwired; PR Newswire in New York; and Business Wire of San Francisco. The defendants then allegedly used those news releases to make stock trades before the information came out.
"They took the release from point A on the newswire servers, moved it to another server that was accessible to the traders, who could look at them, read them and trade," Fishman said.
The case should sound a warning for anyone who uses email in a work setting, Fishman said.
"Every employee of every company has to be vigilant about the emails they get from people who look like their friends or acquaintances, urging them to click on a link," Fishman said. "They should say to themselves every time that happens, `That seems like a really bad idea.'"
"Every employee of every company has to be vigilant about the emails they get from people who look like their friends or acquaintances, urging them to click on a link," Fishman said. "They should say to themselves every time that happens, `That seems like a really bad idea.'"
Fishman alleged the scheme had been going on for more than five years with hackers largely operating out of Ukraine.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
A poster board detailing an insider trading scam involving hacking is displayed at the start of a news conference in Newark, N.J., Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2015. An international group of hackers and stock traders made $30 million by breaking into the computers of newswire services that put out corporate press releases and trading on the information before it was made public, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
Booking photos from the Hall County Jail of of Alexander Garkusha, 47, of Cumming and Alpharetta and Leonid Momotok, 47, of Suwanee.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2015/8/329334/two-suspects-in-international-scheme-jailed-in-hall-county