Bloomberg extortionist jailed for 4 years

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/31517.html

By John Leyden
Posted: 02/07/2003 

A Kazakhstan man was jailed yesterday to 51 months in prison following
his conviction in February for an attempt to extort $200,000 from
Michael Bloomberg, founder of the Bloomberg financial news service.

Oleg Zezev (AKA Oleg Zezov), 29, was convicted of breaking into
Bloomberg's computer system, and then emailing Bloomberg founder
Michael Bloomberg threatening that the financial news service's
reputation would be put at risk if he wasn't paid. The threat was made
in March 2000, prior to Bloomberg's election as New York's mayor in
2001.

After receiving this threat, Bloomberg contacted the FBI and arranged
to meet Zezev and alleged accomplice Igor Yarimika in London, where
the pair was arrested in an FBI sting operation. The two men were
subsequently extradited from the UK to face trial in the US.

Zezev was convicted in a high profile trial, during which Mayor
Bloomberg testified for the prosecution. The case against Yarimika was
dismissed due to insufficient evidence, after a trial judge ruled that
key prosecution evidence was inadmissible.

Yesterday US District Judge Kimba Wood sentenced Zezev to jail for 51
months, one of the longest sentences ever imposed in a computer crime
case.

"As the government has pointed out, your crime was a very serious one
because of its threat to international commerce and the integrity of
data that the financial community relies upon to do its business,"  
said Judge Wood.



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