On Monday, a Ukrainian national was sentenced in a Newark, N.J. court to two-and-a-half years in prison for his role in a global insider trading scheme believed to have netted his gang more than $100 million, according to a Reuters article.
Vadym Iermolovych, 29, of Kiev, is the first computer hacker sentenced for participation in what prosecutors say was a global operation to use corporate press releases – stolen before publication – to conduct insider trading. Between February 2010 and August 2015, the hackers used a series of cyberattacks to penetrate a number of wire services to siphon out 150,000 financial press release before they were released to the public. Traders would then issue orders based on the insider information for the purchase and sale of stocks. Some of the traders had ties to Russia.
Iermolovych pleaded guilty a year ago to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit computer hacking, and aggravated identity theft.
The gang, consisting of three hackers and seven traders, were charged in New Jersey and Brooklyn, N.Y., and have pleaded guilty.
In addition to jail time, Iermolovych was ordered to pay $3 million in restitution and he received a penalty of three years of supervised release.
