According to Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia, the leader of the transnational organized cybercriminal network and his assistant were detained upon the motion of the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia.

According to the Office, they were arrested on May 8, 2019 by the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia on the basis of a court warrant and were indicted by the Office of the Prosecutor General of Georgia on the same day.

The statement released by the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia reads as follows:

“A complex transnational organized cybercrime network that used GozNym malware in an attempt to steal an estimated $100 million from victims in the United States and around the world has been dismantled as part of an international law enforcement operation.

The operation was highlighted by an unprecedented initiation of criminal prosecutions against members of the network in four different countries as a result of cooperation between the United States, Germany, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Bulgaria, Europol and Eurojust.

The operation was conducted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania and the FBI’s Pittsburgh Field Office, along with the Prosecution Service of Georgia, Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, Office of the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Moldova, Public Prosecutor’s Office Verden (Germany), Office of the General Prosecutor of Bulgaria, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, National Police of Ukraine, General Police Inspectorate of the Republic of Moldova, the Luneburg Police of Germany, Bulgaria’s General Directorate for Combatting Organized Crime, Europol and Eurojust.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia was also involved in the operation along with the Office of the Prosecutor General of Georgia. For two years, investigative actions were being conducted in order to identify the members of the transnational organized cybercrime network, who carried out criminal activities from Georgia, and to obtain authentic evidence against them.

As a result of coordinated work with our colleagues from the US, concrete victim companies and two persons residing in Georgia have been identified. Criminal prosecution has been initiated against A.K. (also known by the nickname “None”), who was the leader and the primary organizer of the GozNym network and his main assistant M.K. (also known by the nickname “Phantom”).

A.K. and M.K. were arrested on May 8, 2019 by the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia on the basis of a court warrant and were indicted by the Office of the Prosecutor General of Georgia on the same day.

More precisely, NONE and PHANTOM were charged with a number of crimes committed against up to ten US companies, such as unauthorized access to computer system (Article 284 of the Criminal Code of Georgia); unauthorized obtaining and illegal keeping, using and spreading of computer data, which caused considerable damage (Article 158); illegal usage of computer data and computer system (Article 285); theft in a group’s conspiracy, which caused considerable damage (Article 177).

On the basis of the motion of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Georgia, a first appearance hearing of A.K (NONE) and M.K. (PHANTOM) was held on May 9, 2019 at the Tbilisi City Court, during which detention as a measure of constraint was imposed against them.

The Office of the Prosecutor General of Georgia continues criminal prosecution with respect to the case”.