Russian law enforcement officials said they initially detained 14 people during a series of raids across the country this week.
Eight people allegedly involved in the REvil ransomware gang were hit with charges by a court in Moscow on Saturday, according to the Russian News Agency (TASS). The eight were arrested as part of a larger raid by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia on 25 different locations across Moscow, St. Petersburg and Lipetsk on Friday. TASS reported that on Saturday, Moscow’s Tverskoi Court charged the men with violating Part 2 of Article 187 of Russia’s Criminal Code, which covers the “illegal circulation of payments. The men are facing up to seven years in prison and a fine of about $13,150. “At present, materials are either incoming or have already been examined with regard to Roman Muromsky, Andrey Bessonov and also the following individuals: Golovachuk M.A., Zayets A.N., Khansvyarov R.A., Korotayev D.V., Puzyrevsky D.D. and Malozemov A.V. Overall, the court has materials on eight individuals,” the court said. Muromsky and Bessonov were initially named by Russian news outlets as members of the group and video emerged online of the two in court. The FSB said it moved forward with the raid after receiving information about REvil’s alleged leader and other members of the group from US authorities. The FSB said in a statement that 20 luxury cars,426 million rubles, $600,000 and Є500,000 in Euros were seized during the raids.
