Who Is Roman Seleznev? Hacker Son Of Prominent Russian Lawmaker Jailed For 27 Years By US Court

The son of a prominent Russian lawmaker, Roman Seleznev, has been jailed for 27 years by a U.S. court Friday after being convicted of hacking into more than 500 U.S. businesses and stealing millions of credit card numbers and then selling the data online. It allegedly caused more than $169 million in fraud losses.

“This investigation, conviction and sentence demonstrates that the United States will bring the full force of the American justice system upon cybercriminals like Seleznev who victimize U.S. citizens and companies from afar,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Blanco. “And we will not tolerate the existence of safe havens for these crimes – we will identify cybercriminals from the dark corners of the Internet and bring them to justice," according to U.S. Department of Justice.

Read: Did Apple's Servers Get Hacked?

Seleznev's imprisonment is the longest sentence handed down for hacking-related charges in the U.S. He ran the illegal businesses from his homes in Bali, Indonesia, and Vladivostok, Russia. Among his victims were not just millions of individual credit-card holders but also more than 3,700 financial institutions and 500 businesses around the world. The business included restaurants and pizza parlors in Western Washington, including Broadway Grill in Seattle all of which were forced into bankruptcy following the cyber theft. Testimony at trial revealed that Seleznev’s scheme caused more than $169 million in losses, according to the Justice Department.

Prior to his sentencing, Seleznev even asked U.S. district judge Richard Jones for leniency. He requested the judge to consider his medical problems — the result of being wounded in a bombing in Morocco in 2011 — while deciding his prison term. However, his plea was not considered and Jones told Seleznev that the bombing "was an invitation to right your wrongs and recognize you were given a second chance in life." After sentencing, Seleznev's lawyer Igor Litvak read out a hand-written statement from his client that said the long sentence was a political move due to U.S.-Russia strained relations, reports said.

Seleznev is the son of Valery Seleznev, who belongs to Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. He said the sentence was "passed by man-eaters" and that his son was "abducted". "My son was tortured because being in jail in a foreign country after abduction is torture in itself. He is innocent," he told RIA Novosti news agency.