Russian Lawmaker’s Hacker Son Gets 27-Year U.S. Prison Term
- Roman Seleznev was convicted of cyber crimes by Seattle jury
- He sought leniency claiming brain damage from terrorist attack
Valery Seleznev, a prominent Russian lawmaker and the father of Roman Seleznev.
Photographer: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP PhotoThe son of a Russian lawmaker depicted by U.S. prosecutors as a master cyber-thief who made the purchase of stolen credit cards “as easy as buying a book on Amazon” was sentenced to 27 years in prison.
Roman Seleznev was found guilty in August of filching consumer credit card numbers from hundreds of retail businesses worldwide and selling the data online, allegedly causing more than $169 million in fraud losses. In federal court in Seattle, the government sought a 30-year prison term for the 38-count conviction, saying Seleznev created an internet marketplace for hackers to sell millions of stolen credit-card numbers and trained thousands of criminals how to use the data to commit fraud.