A Canadian man accused of carrying out dozens of ransomware attacks has been extradited to the U.S. and $28 million in Bitcoin (BTC) has been seized in connection with the case.
Sebastien Vachon-Desjardins, 34, was indicted in a federal court in Florida on charges of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and wire fraud, intentional damage to a protected computer, and extortion. A protected computer is a computer used by either the U.S. government or an American financial institution.
Vachon-Desjardins, a former IT professional for the Government of Canada, was arrested in Quebec. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) seized 719 Bitcoins (worth about $28 million) and $790,000 in cash from his home.
Media reports say that Vachon-Desjardins has bragged that he’d stolen more than 2,000 Bitcoins through a series of ransomware attacks carried out all over the world.
The arrest comes amid an international crackdown on ransomware. In November U.S. President Joe Biden promised to bring “the full strength of the federal government to disrupt malicious cyber activity” and, since then, several large-scale operations have brought down ransomware groups including Russia-based Revil.
Vachon-Desjardins allegedly operated as an “affiliate” of the NetWalker ransomware gang, which sells “Ransomware-as-a-Service” (RaaS) around the world. The Toronto Sun newspaper reported that Vachon-Desjardins also taught other would-be cybercriminals how to carry out ransomware attacks.
Vachon-Desjardins carried out ransomware attacks against hospitals, emergency services and other companies in the healthcare sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. He faces more than 11 years in a U.S. prison if found guilty of all charges against him.
