A dual Russian and Israeli national has been extradited to the U.S. on charges related to his involvement as a developer for the LockBit ransomware group, which has targeted victims, including hospitals.
On March 13, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney's office for the District of New Jersey, Rostislav Panev, 51, was extradited to the U.S. after being arrested in Israel in August. He was flown to the U.S. and appeared before Magistrate Judge André M. Espinosa, who ordered his detention pending trial.
Mr. Panev is accused of serving as a developer for LockBit since its inception in 2019, helping to create malware that enabled the group to execute ransomware attacks on more than 2,500 victims across 120 countries, including 1,800 in the U.S. Victims included hospitals, schools, critical infrastructure and government agencies, resulting in at least $500 million in ransom payments and billions in damages, according to the Justice Department.
Following his arrest, Mr. Panev confessed to Israeli authorities that he had coded and consulted for LockBit in exchange for cryptocurrency payments, aligning with the transactions identified by U.S. officials. He also admitted to developing code that disabled antivirus software, deployed malware and printed ransom notes on all printers within a victim's network. Additionally, Mr. Panev acknowledged writing and maintaining the ransomware's malware code and providing technical support to the group.