U.S. Says Russian Suspect in LinkedIn Hack Tried to Escape
Source: Bloomberg
A Russian citizen accused of hacking LinkedIn and Dropbox was supposed to have a bail hearing Wednesday before a U.S. judge, but plans went sideways after prosecutors said he tried to escape.
Yevgeniy Nikulin, 30, appeared in San Francisco federal court wearing shackles after being extradited last week from the Czech Republic over objections from Russian officials who sought him on separate charges.
Nikulin had been ordered March 30 to undergo a medical evaluation. Marshals who supervised him in custody described his behavior as defiant, including physical confrontation and an attempt to escape, a prosecutor said in court Wednesday.
The Russian was indicted on multiple counts of computer-enabled fraud and identity theft stemming from cyber-attacks on LinkedIn, Dropbox and Formspring, a San Francisco-based social networking company, in 2012 and 2013. He faces a lengthy prison term if convicted.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-04/u-s-says-russian-suspect-in-linkedin-hack-tried-to-escape
During his prolonged fight against being extradited to the US, Nikulin's attorney wrote a letter claiming that the FBI had come to interview him and were trying to get him to confess to hacking the DNC.
http://abcnews.go.com/amp/International/wireStory/big-hunt-russian-hackers-obvious-election-link-48899926
Nikulin, who is the subject of a conflicting extradition request from Russia, has been the most explicit. He told a judge in Prague that he was twice taken out of prison and offered a pardon, U.S. citizenship and refuge for his parents if he confessed to having "hacked the Democratic Party" on the Russian government's orders, an apparent reference to the embarrassing leak of Democratic National Committee emails in the heat of the U.S. race.
Nikulin said he rejected the offer, and his lawyer Vladimir Makeev later wrote a rambling letter warning Trump that the bureau was railroading Nikulin to undermine his presidency.
In an interview at his office in Moscow, Makeev said his client was being pressured by "certain unscrupulous representatives of the FBI that wish to have an impeachment carried out on president of the United States."
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But there's no indication the agent — who was one of 10 officials, translators and defense lawyers listed as being present at the interrogation — ever discussed the election or made Nikulin an offer, much less of citizenship. The FBI would not make the agent available for an interview but a law enforcement official said no such deal was ever discussed. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
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