US deports Russian hacker who was sentenced to 48 months in prison for stealing more than $800,000 from bank accounts using malware
- Convicted Russian hacker Stanislav Lisov, 35, was put on a flight from New York to Moscow on Tuesday
- Lisov pleaded guilty last year to stealing $855,000 from online bank account using ‘NeverQuest’ malware and was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison
- After getting credit for time served, Lisov was supposed to be released in a few months’ time, but officials decided to extradite him early
The United States on Tuesday deported a Russian hacker who was sentenced to four years in prison for using malicious software to steal nearly $1million from online bank accounts.
According to officials from the Russian Embassy in the US, Stanislav Lisov was transported to the JFK International Airport in New York, where he boarded an Aeroflot flight bound for Moscow.
Lisov, a computer programmer from Taganrog, Russia, was arrested in Barcelona in January 2017 and extradited to the US a year later.
Convicted Russian hacker Stanislav Lisov, 35, who was first arrested in Spain in 2017 (pictured), was put on a flight from New York and extradited to Moscow on Tuesday
According to reports published at the time, Lisov was picked up by Spanish authorities while honeymooning in Barcelona with his newlywed wife.
The hacker, who operated under the monikers ‘Black’ and ‘Blackf,’ has been under investigation by the United States for two years, suspected of developing and using ‘NeverQuest,’ a computer virus that spreads itself via social media, email and file transfers.
Last year, Lisov pleaded guilty to stealing $855,000 from online banking accounts between June 2012 and January 2015.
In November, Lisov, 34, was sentenced in Manhattan Federal Court to 48 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay forfeiture of $50,000 and restitution of more than $481,000. He initially faced up to 35 years in prison.
After receiving credit for time served, Lisov was slated to be released from prison within a few months’ time, but federal officials made the decision to extradite him back to Russia ahead of schedule, reported Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty.
On June 10, Lisov was transferred from a prison in Pennsylvania to an immigration detention facility, where he remained for a couple of days to await his flight.
Lisov’s wife Darya (C) is pictured waiting for her husband at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow on Wednesday morning
Alexei Topolsky, a spokesperson for the Russian Consulate General in New York, said in a statement to the Russian news outlet RIA Novosti that Lisov was brought to the airport in simple clothes and a face mask, and without handcuffs.
‘He looked like a person who was happy to be going home,’ Topolsky said in Russian.
A reporter with the Russian news agency TASS was at JFK on Tuesday and witnessed Lisov being escorted onto the plane by two US immigration officers and two diplomats with the Russian Consulate General in New York.
‘I only have the Russian passport with me. The rest is waiting home,’ Lisov told TASS. ‘I’m glad and excited to return to my homeland, and I’m looking forward for the takeoff. Then I will definitely be free.’
The flight carrying the convicted hacker on board took off from New York at 7.20pm and landed in Moscow at 11.33am local time.
He was met at Sheremetyevo International Airport by his wife, Darya Lisova.