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RUSSIAN

Spain allows extradition of alleged Russian hacker to US

Spain's top-level National Court has okayed extraditing Stanislav Lisov, an alleged Russian hacker accused of creating an online banking malware, to the United States, it said Tuesday.

Spain allows extradition of alleged Russian hacker to US
Photo: stevanovicigor/Depositphotos

Lisov was detained in January in Barcelona's El Prat airport when he was about to board a plane.

He was subsequently jailed pending a decision on whether or not to extradite him to the United States, where he is wanted for developing and using Neverquest “with which he allegedly cheated financial institutions out of $855,000 (724,000 euros) between June 2012 and January 2015.”

According to US security firm Symantec, once it infects computers, Neverquest allows attackers to steal banking login credentials from users.    

The National Court, which investigates suspected crimes that have an international remit, said US authorities wanted to try Lisov for conspiracy to commit fraud and computer abuse.

It concluded that the US judiciary could appropriately try Lisov even if he was not present in the United States when he allegedly committed the crimes, as “the majority of the victims are in this country.”

Lisov, though, has three days to appeal the decision.