LockBit Developer Rostislav Panev Charged for Billions in Global Ransomware Damages
The United States has charged a dual Russian and Israeli national with being the creator of the now-defunct LockBit ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) enterprise from at least February 2024 to its start in or about 2019.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) announced in a statement that 51-year-old Rostislav Panev was detained in Israel earlier this August and is presently awaiting extradition. Fund transfers to Panev's bitcoin wallet suggest that he made about $230,000 between June 2022 and February 2024.
According to U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger, Rostislav Panev spent years creating and maintaining the digital weapons that allowed his LockBit co-conspirators to wreak havoc and inflict billions of dollars in harm globally read more about LockBit Developer Rostislav Panev Charged f...