Recently, the United States and the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on seven Russians, including Vitaliy Kovalev, a high-ranking member of the hacker group Trickbot.
Vitaliy Kovalev is also known by the aliases Bentley and Ben.
According to the indictment, Kovalev is accused of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and eight counts of bank fraud, connected to a series of intrusions into victims’ bank accounts at various financial institutions in the U.S. that occurred in 2009 and 2010, before his involvement with the Dyre and Trickbot groups.
It has become known that what the U.S. refers to as Trickbot is essentially the Russian hacker group Conti. Russian authorities conducted an investigation into its leaders, and Vitaliy Kovalev was even detained in 2016 under Article 273, Part 2 of the Russian Criminal Code (creation, use, and distribution of malicious computer programs). Remarkably, he was released on a recognizance not to leave, and the case was later quietly closed.
It is particularly curious why Bentley received such leniency, while leaders of other hacker groups, such as Flint and The Infraud Organization, remain in custody.
