The Temryuk District Court of the Krasnodar Territory sentenced 29-year-old hacker Andrey Kovalenko to five years in a penal colony and a fine of 200,000 rubles in the case of FBK donations and distribution of malware. This was reported by the joint press service of the Kuban courts.
According to investigators, the man, with the help of his accomplices, sent mailing lists to foreigners with malware, and then, using the stolen data, made purchases in online stores, for example, Walmart and Amazon. In addition, Kovalenko was accused of transferring donations to the Anti-Corruption Foundation founded by Alexei Navalny, which was recognized as an extremist organization in 2021. Representatives of the court did not name the total amount and number of donations. The case against the hacker was initiated by the FSB department for the Krasnodar Territory.
Kovalenko was found guilty of distributing malicious software (part 2 of article 273 of the Criminal Code), illegal circulation of means of payment (part 1 of article 187 of the Criminal Code) and financing an extremist organization (part 1 article 282.3 of the Criminal Code). In addition to the main punishment, he was also banned from administering Internet resources for two years. It should be noted that Kovalenko is not on the list of extremists and terrorists of Rosfinmonitoring, which usually includes persons involved in cases under extremist articles.
The press service of the court published a video from the announcement of the verdict. The footage shows Kovalenko standing in a cage wearing a Rick and Morty T-shirt. According to Mediazona, the Kuban was registered in the village of Taman.
Updated at 16:25. Added information that Kovalenko is not on the list of extremists and terrorists of Rosfinmonitoring.