The indictment, unsealed Tuesday, describes the hack as “the largest theft of customer data from a US financial institution in history”.
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He and Orenstein were accused of having run at least 12 illegal internet casinos, as well as payment processors IDPay and Todur, through which they collected US$18 million ($27.6 million) of fees to process hundreds of millions of dollars of transactions for criminals.
Hackers gained access to customer information of nine companies, according to an indictment from Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, including two newspapers.
Tuesday’s charges substantially expand a criminal case first announced in July.
Mastermind Gery Shalon, 31, is charged with orchestrating massive computer hacking crimes, including the largest theft of customer data from a USA financial institution in history – the hack of 83 million customer records from JP Morgan Chase, prosecutors said.
BHARARA: Companies need to do a better job of protecting all the information that they have because even information like email addresses and location information can be used for devious purposes and mischievous purposes.
JPMorgan discovered the incident through the website for a corporate event that the firm sponsors.
The hacking is said to have taken place using a server based in Egypt, and conducted by Shalon and Aaron.
Orenstein and Shalon were arrested by Israeli police on July 21 and remain in that country.
A separate indictment was also cited against Anthony Murgio, a man who hails from Florida. Aaron, also a USA citizen, remains at large, prosecutors said. The court papers said identifying information on millions of other people was stolen in cyberattacks from 2012 to last summer against several other financial institutions, financial services corporations and financial news publishers. News Corp said the indictment relates to a breach that targeted subscribers, and which was disclosed on October 9.
JPMorgan said that strong co-operation with law enforcement had been essential in bringing the criminals to justice.
A spokeswoman for Dow Jones did not immediately return a request for comment as to whether that breach was tied to Tuesday’s charges.
The JPMorgan data were used to expedite a “pump and dump” plot where the three men manipulatively inflated penny stocks prices and sold them for huge profits. Thanks to these activities, Shalon and the others allegedly made “hundreds of millions of dollars”.
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The indictment charges that Shalon and Aaron also conspired to artificially manipulate the price of certain stocks publicly traded in the United States.
