A Muscovite has pleaded not guilty in an American federal court to allegations of participating in one of the most lucrative cybercrime rings in history.
Dmitry Smilyanets, 29, made his plea Monday at the court in Newark, New Jersey, and his lawyer said that he would fight the charges against him, Reuters reported.
Prosecutors say that Smilyanets together with a team of three Russians and one Ukrainian stole more than 160 million credit card numbers resulting in a total loss of more than $300 million to the victims.
NASDAQ and Dow Jones are among the 17 powerful financial systems, retailers, and payment systems that the hackers are said to have targeted, Bloomberg reported.
Smilyanets is accused of selling personal information and bank card numbers to resellers, who subsequently put the information onto blank payment cards that could be used to withdraw money or purchase goods.
If convicted, Smilyanets could face two 30-year terms for wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, as well as two five-year terms for gaining unauthorized access to computers and conspiracy to gain access.
No trial date has been set, and Smilyanets will remain in detention without bail until his status is reviewed on Dec. 2.
Smilyanets was arrested in Amsterdam on June 28, 2012, and extradited to the U.S. on Sept. 7.
Legendary hacker Vladimir Drinkman was also arrested in the Netherlands but is still there fighting extradition.
Another alleged conspirator, Mikhail Rytikov, remains a fugitive in Ukraine, while Russians Alexander Kalinin and Roman Kotov have been indicted but are still at large.
Smilyanets' arrest caused a stir in the online gaming community, where he was widely known as the founder of champion electronic gaming team Moscow 5.
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