Hacker Admits Guilt in $10M Theft

By Reuters

Feb. 8, 2011

A Russian man has pleaded guilty in court to stealing $10 million from former Royal Bank of Scotland division World Pay in 2008 by hacking into accounts, RIA-Novosti reported Monday.

Investigators said 27-year-old Yevgeny Anikin was a member of an international hacking ring that copied client account information and boosted the daily maximum withdrawal limit before taking cash out of bank machines across Europe, Asia and the United States.

"I want to say that I repent and fully admit my guilt," Anikin in his final comments to the court in Novosibirsk in Siberia, where he was charged with theft.

Anikin, who was detained in 2009, bought two apartments in Novosibirsk as well as a luxury car.

Another member of the hacker ring was sentenced by a St. Petersburg court to six years in prison in September.

The judge in the case, Lyubov Nazarov, said the verdict and sentence would be announced either on Monday or Friday.

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