A federal grand jury in the Northern District of Ohio has indicted three Russian nationals and two of their companies for allegedly facilitating cyberattacks that caused tens of millions of dollars in losses to U.S. victims.

Indictment and Charges

The indictment, which was returned in December 2024 and unsealed today, charges Alexander Alexandrovich Volosovik, 43, Kirill Andreevich Zatolokin, 34, and Yulia Vladimirovna Pankova, 29, all of St. Petersburg, Russia. The charges also name two St. Petersburg-based entities: Medialand LLC and ML.Cloud LLC. All five defendants face charges of conspiracy to commit and aid and abet computer fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Following the unsealing, the U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice program announced a reward of up to $10 million, along with potential relocation, for actionable information regarding foreign government-linked associates of the defendants, their malicious activities, or foreign government-linked use of the two companies.

Alleged Cybercrime Scheme

Prosecutors allege that Medialand LLC and ML.Cloud LLC operated as “bulletproof hosts,” which are services that knowingly market and lease infrastructure to cybercriminals to help them evade law enforcement. The indictment states that Volosovik advertised these services on criminal forums, highlighting features designed to assist illicit activities.

The infrastructure was allegedly used by clients to distribute malware and ransomware, support criminal marketplaces, register fraudulent domains, and launch phishing and brute-force attacks. Investigators identified 42 victims across 21 U.S. states, including banks, schools, government agencies, hospitals, and media companies.

Original reporting: Tampa Free Press — read the source article.