By Bernard Vaughan
NEW YORK, Feb 1 (Reuters) - An Estonian man pleaded guilty
on Friday in U.S. federal court for his role in a massive
Internet scam that targeted well-known websites such as iTunes,
Netflix and The Wall Street Journal.
The scheme infected at least four million computers in more
than 100 countries, including 500,000 in the United States, with
malicious software, or malware, according to the indictment. It
included a large number of computers at data centers located in
New York, federal prosecutors said.
Valeri Aleksejev, 32, was the first of six Estonians and one
Russian indicted in 2011 to enter a plea. They were indicted on
five charges each of wire and computer intrusion. One of the
defendants, Vladimir Tsastsin, was also charged with 22 counts
of money laundering.
In U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Friday, Aleksejev
pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy
to commit computer intrusion. He faces up to 25 years in prison,
deportation and the forfeiture of $7 million.
The scam had several components, including a
"click-hijacking fraud" in which the malware re-routed searches
by users on infected computers to sites designated by the
defendants, prosecutors said in the indictment. Users of
infected computers trying to access Apple Inc's iTunes website
or Netflix Inc's movie website, for example, instead ended up at
websites of unaffiliated businesses, according to the
indictment.
Another component of the scam replaced legitimate
advertisements on websites operated by News Corp's The Wall
Street Journal, Amazon.com Inc and others with advertisements
that triggered payments for the defendants, prosecutors said.
The defendants reaped at least $14 million from the fraud,
prosecutors said. However, Aleksejev's lawyer, William Stampur,
said in court on Friday that Aleksejev has no assets.
Estonian police arrested Aleksejev and the other Estonians
in November 2011. One other Estonian, Anton Ivanov, has been
extradited, and the extradition of the other four is pending,
according to the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan. The
Russian, Andrey Taame, remains at large, according to the U.S.
Attorney's office.
Aleksejev told Magistrate Judge James Francis he assisted in
blocking anti-virus software updates on infected computers.
Francis asked Aleksejev if he knew what he was doing was
illegal.
"I thought it was wrong," Aleksejev said in broken English
after a long pause. "But of course I didn't know all the laws in
the U.S."
Francis set a tentative sentencing date of May 31 for
Aleksejev.
The case is USA v. Tsastsin et al, U.S. District Court in
Manhattan, No. 11-00878.
For Aleksejev: William Joseph Stampur of Hurwitz Stampur &
Roth.
For the United States: James Pastore and Sara Lai of the
U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
Follow us on Twitter @ReutersLegal | Like us on Facebook