Security News > 2022 > February > Canadian Netwalker ransomware crook pleads guilty to million-dollar crimes

A Canadian who used the Netwalker ransomware to attack 17 organisations and had C$30m in cash and Bitcoin when police raided his house has been jailed for more than six years.

Sebastien Vachons-Desjardins of Gatineau, Ottawa, was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison earlier this month after pleading guilty to five criminal charges in Ontario's Court of Justice.

"The Defendant excelled at what he did," sniffed Justice Paul Renwick in a sentencing note published on Canadian court document repository CanLII. "Between 10-15 unknown individuals hired the Defendant to teach them his methods. Some of these activities benefitted those interested in securing computer networks from these types of attacks. Some of the Defendant's students were likely other cyber threat actors."

Sentencing Vachons-Desjardins, the judge said: "The Defendant personally profited greatly from these offences; he earned the equivalent of over $600,000 in cash, bank balances of over $400,000, and Bitcoin transfers to money spent estimated at $1,755,000, and the value of at least 944 Bitcoins, worth over $30,000,000 when seized."

Ransomware gangs are relatively rarely brought to trial, so Vachons-Desjardins' guilty plea makes him an unusual suspect.

Ukrainian police have made a number of arrests over the past few months, while the US has, over the years, occasionally imprisoned foreign criminals who travelled to countries with American extradition treaties.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/02/08/netwalker_ransomware_jailed/