German Constitutional Court Rejects Hacker's Extradition to US

Turkish national Ercan Findikoglu, dubbed the world’s number two hacker, will not be extradited to the United States, where he faces a 250-year sentence, in accordance with Germany's Federal Constitutional Court.

MOSCOW, December 2 (Sputnik) — Ercan Findikoglu, a Turkish national arrested in Frankfurt in 2013, will not be extradited to the US in accordance with Germany's Federal Constitutional Court.

"Germany's top court has blocked the extradition to the United States of a Turkish man accused of stealing almost $60 million in a series of hacking raids against credit card companies," the Associated Press reported.

Findikoglu, 32, dubbed the world’s number two hacker, is reportedly a mastermind and the head of a group, which had conducted numerous cyber attacks on payment processing companies between 2011 and 2013. The group allegedly raised "the limits on prepaid credit cards" and stole large sums of money, the Associated Press notes.

In the United States Findikoglu faces up to a 250-year sentence for Internet fraud, Hurriyet, the Turkish media outlet, reports. The extradition decision earlier approved by the German Supreme Court in Frankfurt was abolished by the Federal Constitutional Court as "unconstitutional," the media outlet underscores. It also ruled that Frankfurt's regional court should "obtain assurances" from the American authorities that Findikoglu would not be given a "disproportional sentence" if convicted in the US.

According to Der Spiegel both the US and Turkey seek Findikoglu's extradition. The defendant's lawyer Oliver Wallasch argues that a 250-year sentence, which his client is most likely to receive in the United States, is disproportional. In contrast, in Germany Ercan Findikorglu would be given a 15-year prison term, the media outlet emphasized.