According to the Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger for the Eastern District of Virginia and Special Agent in Charge Matthew S. Miller of the U.S. Secret Service’s Washington Field Office, a Russian man, Alekei Burkov, 29, has pleaded guilty to charges that he operates two online platforms dedicated to financial fraud, computer hacking, and several other crimes. As noted by the court document, Burkov operated a website called ‘Cardplanet’ where he sold stolen debit and credit cards numbers that have been used for purchases amounting to more than $20 million. He also ran another website dedicated to cybercriminals to advertise stolen items including personal information, money laundering, hacking etc., with rigid measures to restrict law enforcement agency access.
Burkov was initially arrested in 2015 at Ben-Gurton airport, he was extradited in 2017 on an Isreali court order, and was later extradited to the United States in November 2019.