WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The Russian national Vladimir Drinkman, charged in the United States for data theft trough cyberattacks, pleaded not guilty, US Department of Justice said in a press release.
“Drinkman appeared today before US Magistrate Judge James Clark and entered a plea of not guilty to all 11 counts charged in the indictment and was ordered detained without bail,” the press release, issued on Tuesday, said.
Drinkman was charged for his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to steal data that resulted in the theft of 160 million US bank cards details.
Drinkman and co-defendants Alexandr Kalinin, Roman Kotov and Mikhail Rytikov were charged with attacks on NASDAQ, 7-Eleven, Carrefour, JetBlue, Dow Jones, among other companies, according to the press release.
“This case and today's extradition demonstrates that through international cooperation, and through great teamwork between the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, we are able to bring cyber thieves to justice in the United States, wherever they may commit their crimes,” the press release said.
Prior to his extradition to the United States, Drinkman was detained in the Netherlands since June 2012.
However, Moscow expressed concern over the Netherlands authorities’ decision to extradite Drinkman to the United States, despite its arguments in favor of his primary extradition to Russia in compliance with the 1999 Russian-US Treaty on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.
Drinkman’s trial before US District Judge is scheduled for April 27, 2015.
