RPT - PREVIEW - US Court Set To Sentence Russian National Martyshev Over Cybercrimes

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th April, 2019) Russian national Yuriy Martyshev who has pleaded guilty to cyber-related crimes will be sentenced in a US Federal court on Friday.

In March, Martyshev pleaded guilty to conspiring to access computers without authorization and computer intrusion with intent to cause damage.

Prosecutors in sentencing guidelines recommended that the court give Martyshev a 180-month jail term. According to the prosecutors, the charges are related to his involvement with an online hacking software scheme called Scan4you.

Martyshev's lawyer Alexey Tarasov told Sputnik that the sentencing is scheduled to begin at 9.00 a.m. local time (13.00 GMT) on Friday at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Judge Liam O'Grady will preside over the hearing, which was originally scheduled for October 19, 2018 but was postponed.

On July 6, 2017, a US federal judge in Virginia charged Martyshev - who is also a citizen of Latvia which extradited him to the United States - with four counts of cybercrime, including committing wire fraud, accessing computers without authorization and aiding cyberattacks.

In May, Martyshev testified against co-defendant Ruslans Bondars, a Latvian resident who was sentenced to 14 years in a US prison, the Justice Department said.

According to the Justice Department, Bondars operated Scan4you - an online counter antivirus service that helped computer hackers illegally access networks. Hackers used the service to steal millions of credit and debit card numbers and hack US corporations which led to some $20.5 billion in losses, US authorities have said.

The Russian Embassy in the United States said that Martyshev was apprehended in Latvia in violation of the 1999 Treaty between the United States and Russia on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters.