The alleged Zeus cybercrime leader, Vyacheslav Igorevich Penchukov, also known as “Tank,” was apprehended in Geneva, Switzerland, in October. Based on reports, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice stated that Tank was arrested last month and is in a queue for extradition to the US.
Penchukov currently faces numerous accusations from the US authorities, such as bank fraud, identity theft, and extortion, among other crimes. The alleged ringleader’s initial extradition to the US did not proceed since he did not consent through a simplified proceeding.
However, federal officials decided to allow his extradition to the US earlier this month after accomplishing the formal extradition process. The verdict of the FOJ, on the other hand, may be appealed by the defendant at the Swiss Criminal Federal court, respectively at the Supreme Court in Switzerland.
Authorities caught the Zeus cybercrime leader during his trip.
Reports revealed that the Zeus cybercrime leader, Tank, was arrested while traversing Geneva to meet his partner. Penchukov is notorious for his cybercriminal activities, as he was also one of the Egregor and Maze ransomware operations admins.
The Maze ransomware operation started the trend of double-extorsion tactics against targets. Double-extorsion is when the threat actors steal information and use it as leverage to pressure victims into paying the ransom demand.
Maze later reintroduced itself as the Sekhmet and Egregor operations to evade law enforcement from hunting their campaigns.
A hacking forum has also revealed that Tank was arrested in the early months of last year in Ukraine after an international law enforcement agency targeted the Egregor ransomware group members.
Unfortunately, Penchukov was lucky as he avoided prosecution due to the aid of his political affiliates, including former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s late son.
Tank allegedly managed the stolen banking details and the money mules who wired money from victims’ accounts into those controlled by its members since he is one of Zeus cybercrime’s heads.
The authorities charged him with conspiring to participate in many malicious activities, conspiracy to execute identity theft and computer fraud, bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft.
