Programmer Pyotr Levashov reportedly suspected in US election hacking arrested
Source: The Age
Madrid: A Russian computer programmer, Pyotr Levashov, has been arrested in the Spanish city of Barcelona, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Madrid said on Sunday.
It was unclear why Levashov was arrested. The embassy spokesman declined to give details for his arrest, and Spanish police and the interior ministry were not available for comment on Sunday.
Russian television station RT reported that Levashov was arrested under a US international arrest warrant and was suspected of being involved in hacking attacks linked to alleged interference in last year's US election.
Peter Carr, a spokesman for the US Justice Department's criminal division, said: "The US case remains under seal, so we have no information to provide at this time."
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/world/trumprussia-programmer-pyotr-levashov-suspected-in-us-election-hacking-arrested-20170409-gvhdmx.html
ProudLib72
(17,984 posts)The article does not mention it. Now this is going to be very interesting. Will Putin try to get to him on Spanish soil? Will he play it cool and let him be shipped off to the US? Will he be in the US a short time before he trips and falls on several bullets?
Leghorn21
(13,526 posts)this article (via a tweet, of course!) - I cannot vouch for the source here, but can only hope it is credible??!
Spain arrests alleged Russian cybercriminal over creating virus that helped Trump to win elections
The USA requested the extradition of Petr Levashov, suspected of creating a computer virus that helped Donald Trump to win the presidential elections.
St Petersburg resident Petr Levashov was arrested in Barcelona. He went there on vacation with his wife, according to the Kommersant Newspaper.
The Spanish police burst into their rented apartment in the middle of the night, arrested her husband, and confiscated all their electronic devices, according to Maria Levashova.
I asked for an order or some other paperwork but they told me they showed them to my husband. I spoke to my husband on the phone when he was taken to police station. He told me he was shown some document in Spanish with a low-res photo of him. They said something about a virus that my husband had allegedly created and that it has something to do with Trump winning the presidential elections, Levashova said.
More at
https://en.crimerussia.com/gromkie-dela/spain-arrests-alleged-russian-cybercriminal-at-us-request/#top32
canetoad
(17,179 posts)Thanks for posting this. I think the Age article was also sourced from Reuters. Can't find anyone else reporting at the moment.
Leghorn21
(13,526 posts)- but I think we have both got decent info here so far...and it sure is the kind of info we're ready to hear, by cracky!!
AnnaLewin
(2 posts)Found Russian oppositions web site reporting the issue: https://en.crimerussia.com/gromkie-dela/spain-arrests-alleged-russian-cybercriminal-at-us-request/
By the way, they have a lot info on Russian hackers... interesting
truthisfreedom
(23,152 posts)So he can arrive safely on US soil and be disappeared.
LonePirate
(13,431 posts)Jonny Appleseed
(960 posts)MedusaX
(1,129 posts)National Security related
It also indicates that another russian programmer was arrested in january for leading a financial fraud
Network... charges possibly related
http://www.theage.com.au/world/trumprussia-programmer-pyotr-levashov-suspected-in-us-election-hacking-arrested-20170409-gvhdmx.html
IthinkThereforeIAM
(3,076 posts)... while awaiting proper extradition procedures, as mentioned, perhaps back in January.
Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)A US Department of Justice official said it was a criminal matter without an apparent national security connection.
This doesn't exclude that it could be related to the DNC hack, because there are criminal statutes relating to that type of thing.
aeromanKC
(3,326 posts)And better stay off small planes!!
AnnaLewin
(2 posts)I asked for an order or some other paperwork but they told me they showed them to my husband. I spoke to my husband on the phone when he was taken to police station. He told me he was shown some document in Spanish with a low-res photo of him. They said something about a virus that my husband had allegedly created and that it has something to do with Trump winning the presidential elections, - wife of arrested Russian hacker. found details on Russian news web site: https://en.crimerussia.com/gromkie-dela/spain-arrests-alleged-russian-cybercriminal-at-us-request/
Sancho
(9,070 posts)the missile attack has changed the discussion about Russian hacking. That was the plan and it worked.
Calista241
(5,586 posts)Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)and wail and whine into the wee hours of the night. Another of their anti-American russian BFFs is in custody.
lindysalsagal
(20,726 posts)Leghorn21
(13,526 posts)Such arrests aren't unusual American authorities typically try to nab Russian cybercrime suspects abroad because of the difficulty involved in extraditing them from Russia but Levashov's arrest drew immediate attention after his wife told Russia's RT broadcaster that he was linked to America's 2016 election hacking.
RT quoted Maria Levashova as saying that armed police stormed into their apartment in Barcelona overnight, keeping her and her friend locked in a room for two hours while they quizzed her husband. She said that when she spoke to her husband on the phone from the police station, he told her he was told that he had created a computer virus that was "linked to Trump's election win."
Levashova didn't elaborate, and the exact nature of the allegations weren't immediately clear. Malicious software is routinely shared, reworked and repurposed, meaning that even a computer virus' creator may have little or nothing to do with how the virus is eventually used.
Levashov's name is familiar in cybercrime circles. He has been alleged to be spam kingpin Peter Severa, according to Brian Krebs, a journalist who has written extensively about the Russian cybercrime underworld, and Spamhaus , a group which polices spam.
https://www.usnews.com/news/technology/articles/2017-04-10/alleged-russian-hacker-arrested-in-spain-at-us-request
UpInArms
(51,284 posts)chia
(2,244 posts)I'll take anything they say with a grain of salt while looking for sources I can trust.