Accused Hacker Asks to Serve Any U.S. Sentence in Dutch Prison

A Russian who’s accused of taking part in the most prolific computer hacking organization ever uncovered by U.S. authorities today asked a Dutch court to let him serve any sentence he might receive in the Netherlands.

The request, which will be decided Jan. 27, adds at least two more weeks to a 2 ½-year fight over whether Vladimir Drinkman should be sent to the U.S. for prosecution.

Bart Stapert, Drinkman’s attorney, argued today that sending his client to the U.S. with no provision for his return would mean the end of his family life if he were convicted and sentenced.

“Extradition to the U.S. would mean he would not see his family for decades,” which would constitute a human-rights violation, Stapert said. Drinkman has a wife and 3-year-old daughter in Moscow.

Drinkman, 34, of Moscow has been fighting extradition to the U.S. since his arrest while vacationing in Amsterdam in June 2012. Federal prosecutors in New Jersey indicted him and four other men in July 2013 on charges of hacking 17 retailers, financial institutions and payment processors, including Nasdaq OMX Group Inc., 7-Eleven Inc., Carrefour SA and J.C. Penney Co. to steal more than 160 million credit- and debit-card numbers.

The month after that indictment, Russia filed its own extradition request for Drinkman with Dutch authorities, and a Moscow judge issued what amounted to an arrest warrant on accusations of cyber-crime fraud. In November, Dutch Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten approved the U.S. request because it had been filed 14 months earlier than Russia’s.

‘Family Life’

In his argument, Stapert cited article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which provides for “respect for private and family life.”

Attorney Andre ten Broeke, who represented the Dutch state, said Drinkman’s request should be rejected, arguing that even if Drinkman were to serve a sentence in Russia, his family would have only limited opportunities to see him. He also said there is no reason to return Drinkman to the Netherlands to serve any sentence he might receive.

Drinkman is not part of Dutch society or subject to its jurisdiction and has no resident status in the Netherlands, said ten Broeke, who practices law with the Dutch firm Pels Rijcken & Droogleever Fortuijn NV.

Stapert had also asked the court to take note of diplomatic tensions between Russia and the U.S., arguing that if the Netherlands allows extradition, “it supports increasing tension.”

‘Hunting’ Russians

Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s human-rights representative, said last month that the U.S. appeared to be “hunting” Russian nationals.

Ten Broeke told the court that politics should have no role in the decision.

The U.S. indictment characterized Drinkman as a “sophisticated hacker” who specialized in penetrating corporate networks and harvesting data. Together, the conspirators caused losses of more than $300 million at just three of the companies, according to the indictment.

Of the five men charged in the U.S. indictment -- four Russians and one Ukrainian -- Drinkman said he’d met only one: Dmitriy Smilianets of Moscow. The two were arrested while vacationing together in Amsterdam in June 2012. Smilianets didn’t fight extradition. He has pleaded not guilty, and is currently in jail in Morristown, New Jersey; no trial date has been set.

Fishing Buddies

In an interview with Bloomberg News, Drinkman described Smilianets as a friend he’d met playing games online, someone to drink vodka with or accompany on the occasional fishing trip.

Smilianets, a Moscow resident, founded a gaming team called Moscow Five, or M5, that traveled internationally for competitions. Prosecutors allege in the U.S. indictment that he marketed the credit-card numbers that the group allegedly stole, and set prices for them: $10 for each American number and its associated data, $50 for European numbers and $15 for Canadian. Bulk customers and repeat customers got discounts, according to the indictment.

Drinkman grew up in Syktyvkar, a small city in Northern Russia. His father ran the technology-supplies department for the state university there, he said in a telephone interview. Drinkman taught himself enough about computers, including programming languages like C++, to work as a system administrator at the university as a student. He left before graduating to serve three years in the military, he wrote in a document reviewed by Bloomberg News.

He has confessed to at least some hacking. In March 2013, he wrote a detailed confession from prison for Russian authorities, saying he helped conduct intrusions at Russian banks using a type of malware known as “Carberp,” according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg News.

The case is U.S. v. Drinkman, 09-cr-00626, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey (Newark).