[DataBreaches] French national pleads guilty to fraud and aggravated identity theft

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Past coverage on DataBreaches about Sebastien Raoult can be found linked from “Raoult.” Since he was first detained in 2022, both he and everyone involved in ShinyHunters have denied that he was ever part of that group, yet DOJ seems to have gotten him to plea to a conspiracy count involving ShinyHunters.  From the plea agreement: After Raoult and his co-conspirators hacked companies, a user going by the name ShinyHunters posted hacked data from many of those companies for sale on dark web forums, including RaidForums, EmpireMarket, and Exploit. Between April 2020 and July 2021, ShinyHunters posted sales of hacked data from more than 60 companies. A company’s stolen data typically sold for thousands of dollars, and Shiny Hunters sometimes sold the same company’s data multiple times. For example, ShinyHunters sold the data from Victim-4 for $5,000, 13 different times, for a total of $65,000. On or about May 8, 2020, Raoult asked Bildstein whether Bildstein had succeeded in selling Victim-4. In August 2020, Raoult offered to find buyers for private customer data, including credit card numbers, from Victim-6, a U.S.-based diet and fitness company that was hacked by a co-conspirator. Shiny Hunters also demanded ransoms from some victims and succeeded in obtaining ransoms as large as $425,000. When the co-conspirators breached companies’ cloud computing providers, they sometimes used them to generate profit by cryptomining, while the cloud provider billed the use of computing power to the victim companies. At times, including in March 2021, Raoult also targeted cryptocurrency platforms to profit by hacking accounts and selling stolen keys so that others could withdraw funds. In addition, Raoult sold exploit kits to individuals who were not co-conspirators, so that those individuals could use Raoult’s code to breach companies through their employees’ accounts at Provider-I . As far as DataBreaches knows, neither Gabriel Kimiaie-Asadi Bildstein nor Abdel-Hakim El Ahmadi, both of whom were indicted with him, have been prosecuted in France. To date, it seems the only person prosecuted has been Raoult. The DOJ’s press release appears below: Seattle – A 22-year-old French citizen from Epinal, France, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in U.S. District Court in Seattle, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. Sebastien Raoult, aka Sezyo Kaizen, was arrested last year in Morocco and was extradited to the U.S. in January 2023. Raoult and two co-conspirators were indicted by a grand jury sitting in the Western District of Washington in June 2021. “People often think their actions from behind a screen won’t have consequences for them. Raoult and his co-conspirators used deceptive tactics to trick people into sharing personal login information and breached confidential data from numerous companies,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. “The FBI Seattle Cyber Task Force and our office’s cyber unit work tirelessly to ensure victims of fraud and hacking like this get justice.” According to the plea agreement, Raoult and his co-conspirators hacked into protected computers of corporate entities for the theft of confidential information and customer records, including personally identifiable information and financial information. They hacked numerous companies, including companies in Washington State, elsewhere in the United States, and around the world. After Raoult and his co-conspirators hacked companies, a user going by the name ShinyHunters posted hacked data from many of those companies for sale on dark web forums, including RaidForums, EmpireMarket, and Exploit. Between April 2020 and July 2021, ShinyHunters posted sales of hacked data from more than 60 companies. Sometimes ShinyHunters threatened to leak or sell stolen sensitive files if the victim did not pay a ransom. According to the records filed in the case, Raoult helped create websites that pretended to be login pages belonging to legitimate businesses. The conspirators sent phishing emails to company employees that were designed to look like they came from legitimate businesses and contained links to those login pages. Victims provided their account sign-on credentials on those fake login pages, and the conspirators obtained the victims’ credentials. Raoult and his co-conspirators used the login information to breach victims’ accounts, steal the data stored there, and search the stolen data for credentials to access additional data on companies’ networks and third-party service providers, such as cloud storage services. In total, the conspirators stole hundreds of millions of customer records and caused loss to victim companies that is estimated to exceed $6 million. The conspiracy to commit wire fraud is punishable by a maximum of 27 years in prison. Aggravated identity theft is punishable by a mandatory minimum two-year prison term to follow any other prison sentence imposed in the case. The case is being investigated by the FBI Seattle Cyber Task Force. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Miriam R. Hinman. DOJ’s Office of International Affairs is providing substantial assistance. The Department of Justice also appreciates the significant cooperation and assistance provided by Moroccan and French authorities. Updated September 27, 2023 Source  U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Washington

https://www.databreaches.net/french-national-pleads-guilty-to-fraud-and-aggravated-identity-theft/

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