Bare Safety has written and talked about Sebastien Vachon-Desjardins earlier than, in each article and podcast kind.
Vachon-Desjardins had been a federal authorities employee within the Canadian Capital Area (he comes from Gatineau in Quebec, instantly throughout the river from the federal capital Ottawa in Ontario)…
…however he appears to have determined that becoming a member of the cybercrime underworld can be rather more profitable than his authorities job, and it appears that evidently did certainly rack up a small fortune in unlawful earnings.
He was tracked down, arrested, and convicted in his native Canada, and sentenced to almost seven years in a Canadian jail.
Not lengthy after beginning his sentence, nonetheless, the Canadians launched him from jail particularly so be could possibly be extradited to Tampa, Florida, to face federal prices within the US.
As Chester Wisniewski put it in our March 2022 podcast on the subject:
Sebastien is quickly “on mortgage” to the People, to allow them to punish him, however when he comes again, he nonetheless has to face his sentence right here in Canada.
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Conviction and sentencing
Again in July 2022, Vachon-Desjardins determined to plead responsible within the US, together with his plea doc noting:
On or about January 27 and 28, 2021, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police executed search warrants at Vachon-Desjardins’ dwelling and on protected deposit packing containers held by Vachon-Desjardins at Nationwide Financial institution, Gatineau, Quebec.
Throughout these searches, regulation enforcement seized, amongst different property , all bitcoin contained within the defendant’s BTC Pockets 3Pxki6pFFKC12YSn8JtDs3ZrEg3pFTHnHd.
This seized bitcoin was derived primarily from ransom funds paid by victims of NetWalker Ransomware assaults.
The quantity seized was just below BTC 720, price about US$23 million in early 2021, and nonetheless price about US$14 million right now.
There was loads extra criminality to which Vachon-Desjardins admitted, nonetheless, with the court docket doc happening to say:
Regulation enforcement recognized and seized copies of the server that operated because the backend, or internal-facing, server of the NetWalker Tor Panel and the NetWalker Weblog. This server contained detailed transactional data as to the NetWalker builders and associates. The transactional data revealed that through the course of the conspiracy, roughly 100 associates had been energetic, and victims had paid roughly 5058 bitcoin in ransoms (an approximate whole of US$40 million based mostly on the worth of bitcoin on the time of every transaction).
These data additionally tied Vachon-Desjardins to the profitable extortion of roughly 1864 bitcoin in ransoms (an approximate whole of US$21.5 million based mostly on the worth of bitcoin on the time of every transaction) from dozens of sufferer corporations the world over, together with [a victim in Tampa, Florida].
This apparently identifies Vachon-Desjardins as a really important NetWalker affiliate, answerable for greater than 35% of ransom cash extorted total, and thus presumably additionally being answerable for about one-third of the group’s assaults.
He’s now been sentenced, with the Tampa Bay Occasions reporting that he’ll spend 20 years in a US jail.
In accordance with the Tampa Bay Occasions, the decide within the case famous:
You may have one of many worst instances I’ve ever seen. That is Jesse James meets the twenty first century. [… This] is unhealthy stuff. For those who had gone to trial [i.e. had not pleaded guilty], I might have given you life.
When he’s completed his US jail sentence, Vachon-Desjardins will probably be returned north of the border to to complete his 7-stretch in Canada.
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