Spain extradites Russian 'King of Spam' to US
According to the Spanish police’s website, the Spanish authorities have extradited Russian hacker Peter Levashov, who had been accused of cyber-fraud, to the United States.
36-year-old St. Petersburg native Peter Levashov was arrested by the Spanish authorities in April 2017. The United States immediately demanded his extradition. Levasho was incriminated in the creation and use of a Botnet more commonly known as Kelihos. Hundreds of thousands of computers around the world were Infected with this botnet; the machines were then used to send spam and DDoS-attacks on sites, steal e-mails and bitcoins, and install extortion programs. American investigators believe that Levashov had been engaged in illegal mailings for at least 10 years.
Levashov is accused of a number of crimes in the US, including computer fraud as well as damage and theft of personal data. The Russian contested the extradition.
Levashov's wife claimed that her husband was engaged in "various start-ups", and developed applications for mobile phones and "other projects" in which she did not interfere.
Levashov was also arrested in absentia in Russia. He is accused of hacking the site of a health facility in St. Petersburg.
In October 2017, Levashov said during a court session in Madrid that he is an officer of the Russian army, and that he had worked for the United Russia party for the past 10 years.