A jury convicted a Russian man Thursday of hacking into U.S. businesses to steal credit card information and orchestrating an international online theft scheme that made him millions of dollars.
Jurors deliberated over two days before finding Roman Seleznev guilty of 38 charges, including nine counts of hacking and 10 counts of wire fraud. He could face up to 34 years in prison when he's sentenced Dec. 2.
Seleznev hacked into businesses, mostly pizza restaurants in Washington state, and stole millions of credit card numbers that he sold on underground internet forums, authorities said. The thefts led to almost $170 million in credit card losses around the world and made him "one of the most prolific credit card traffickers in history," prosecutors said.
Seleznev, son of a Russian Parliament member, had faced a 40-count indictment that charged him with running the hacking scheme from 2010 until his arrest in the Maldives in July 2014.
U.S. Secret Service agents captured Seleznev as he and his girlfriend arrived at the airport on their way back to Russia. The agents flew him by private jet to Guam and then to Seattle, where he has been in federal custody.
Seleznev was indicted on 29 felony charges in 2011, but a month later, Seleznev suffered abrain injury in a terrorist bombing in a cafe in Morocco. He was in a coma for two weeks and underwent a series of operations, according to one of his previous lawyers.
