The US Justice Department has announced the sentencing of 32-year-old Vitalii Antonenko, a man accused of hacking, credit card theft, and money laundering.
Antonenko, a resident of New York City, was arrested in March 2019 after returning from Ukraine. An indictment accusing him of participating in a cybercrime scheme was announced one year later.
The man pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage in computer hacking, money laundering, and trafficking in stolen payment card information in September 2024.
Last week, Antonenko was sentenced to 69 months and 18 days in prison, but since he has been detained since 2019 he will be released 10 days after sentencing.
When he was arrested in 2019 after landing at JFK Airport following a trip to Ukraine, law enforcement discovered that computers and other storage devices he had been carrying contained hundreds of thousands of stolen payment card numbers.
Investigators determined that Antonenko was part of a cybercrime group that searched the internet for vulnerable networks from which they could steal personal and payment card information.
Targeted organizations included a hospitality business and a non-profit scientific research institution.
The hackers exploited SQL injection vulnerabilities to obtain the data, which they then sold on cybercrime marketplaces. The proceeds were laundered using cryptocurrency and traditional bank and cash transactions.
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