Russian Man Charged In $300 Million Credit Card Hacking Scandal Pleads Not Guilty

A Russian man charged with overseeing what authorities say is the biggest criminal hacking operation ever prosecuted in the U.S. pled not guilty to an 11-count indictment on Tuesday. Defendant Vladimir Drinkman appeared in a New Jersey District Court to face charges of computer hacking, wire fraud and unauthorized computer access.

Authorities claim Drinkman, 34, stole 100 million to 200 million debit and credit card numbers from large U.S. companies, leading to losses well over $300 million, according to the Associated Press. Authorities say Drinkman and four accomplices stole the credit cards from NASDAQ, Dow Jones, 7-Eleven, Jet Blue, J.C. Penney, Hannaford, Heartland Payment Systems, Comidea, Dexia, Global Payment Systems and Euronet, according to USA Today.

The criminals reportedly took usernames, passwords, card numbers and other personal information from 2005 to 2012. Heartland and Global Payment Systems are two of the largest card payment-processing companies in the world.

The U.S. attorney's office claims Drinkman and his accomplices looked for vulnerabilities in corporate networks, then used U.S. and foreign computers to attack the networks to steal financial data. The stolen data used to create counterfeit cards, which were then sold on the black market for $10 to $50.

Drinkman is being held along with Dmitriy Smilianets, who authorities claim was his accomplice. The whereabouts of the three other men named in the indictment are unknown.