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canetoad

(17,088 posts)
Mon Apr 10, 2017, 12:20 AM Apr 2017

Programmer Pyotr Levashov reportedly suspected in US election hacking arrested

Source: The Age

Madrid: A Russian computer programmer, Pyotr Levashov, has been arrested in the Spanish city of Barcelona, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Madrid said on Sunday.

It was unclear why Levashov was arrested. The embassy spokesman declined to give details for his arrest, and Spanish police and the interior ministry were not available for comment on Sunday.

Russian television station RT reported that Levashov was arrested under a US international arrest warrant and was suspected of being involved in hacking attacks linked to alleged interference in last year's US election.

Peter Carr, a spokesman for the US Justice Department's criminal division, said: "The US case remains under seal, so we have no information to provide at this time."

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/world/trumprussia-programmer-pyotr-levashov-suspected-in-us-election-hacking-arrested-20170409-gvhdmx.html

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Programmer Pyotr Levashov reportedly suspected in US election hacking arrested (Original Post) canetoad Apr 2017 OP
Extradition????? ProudLib72 Apr 2017 #1
hey canetoad - I posted this earlier (under GD) from a Reuters link...meanwhile, came across Leghorn21 Apr 2017 #2
Hey Leghorn canetoad Apr 2017 #4
My pleasure! I find it so difficult to "wait" for good sources these days to tell me "moremoreMORE" Leghorn21 Apr 2017 #7
Russians on the topic AnnaLewin Apr 2017 #12
extra-legal measures must be taken to protect his life truthisfreedom Apr 2017 #3
I'm guessing he's already on US soil or at an undisclosed location outside of Spain under US control LonePirate Apr 2017 #5
But our country's government is the one who wants him disappeared Jonny Appleseed Apr 2017 #6
This article indicates Criminal charges... rather than MedusaX Apr 2017 #8
I knew I had read of the Spaniards holding at least one... IthinkThereforeIAM Apr 2017 #10
They say it is a criminal rather than NSA charge: Yo_Mama Apr 2017 #15
Sure hope he has a food taster aeromanKC Apr 2017 #9
more info AnnaLewin Apr 2017 #11
Not reported on any shows this am.... Sancho Apr 2017 #13
Sounds like a fall guy to me. n/t Calista241 Apr 2017 #14
republicans gnash teeth, rend garments Achilleaze Apr 2017 #16
Remains to be seen if msm will run with it.... lindysalsagal Apr 2017 #17
Word is rippling out, at least on the web.. Leghorn21 Apr 2017 #18
kicking back up for more exposure UpInArms Apr 2017 #19
RT is Russian propaganda, so chia Apr 2017 #20
More from The Independent Seedersandleechers Apr 2017 #21

ProudLib72

(17,984 posts)
1. Extradition?????
Mon Apr 10, 2017, 12:25 AM
Apr 2017

The article does not mention it. Now this is going to be very interesting. Will Putin try to get to him on Spanish soil? Will he play it cool and let him be shipped off to the US? Will he be in the US a short time before he trips and falls on several bullets?

Leghorn21

(13,520 posts)
2. hey canetoad - I posted this earlier (under GD) from a Reuters link...meanwhile, came across
Mon Apr 10, 2017, 12:39 AM
Apr 2017

this article (via a tweet, of course!) - I cannot vouch for the source here, but can only hope it is credible??!


Spain arrests alleged Russian cybercriminal over creating virus that helped Trump to win elections

 
The USA requested the extradition of Petr Levashov, suspected of creating a computer virus that helped Donald Trump to win the presidential elections.

St Petersburg resident Petr Levashov was arrested in Barcelona. He went there on vacation with his wife, according to the Kommersant Newspaper.

The Spanish police burst into their rented apartment in the middle of the night, arrested her husband, and confiscated all their electronic devices, according to Maria Levashova.

“I asked for an order or some other paperwork but they told me they showed them to my husband. I spoke to my husband on the phone when he was taken to police station. He told me he was shown some document in Spanish with a low-res photo of him. They said something about a virus that my husband had allegedly created and that it has something to do with Trump winning the presidential elections,” Levashova said.


More at
https://en.crimerussia.com/gromkie-dela/spain-arrests-alleged-russian-cybercriminal-at-us-request/#top32


canetoad

(17,088 posts)
4. Hey Leghorn
Mon Apr 10, 2017, 12:54 AM
Apr 2017

Thanks for posting this. I think the Age article was also sourced from Reuters. Can't find anyone else reporting at the moment.



Leghorn21

(13,520 posts)
7. My pleasure! I find it so difficult to "wait" for good sources these days to tell me "moremoreMORE"
Mon Apr 10, 2017, 01:03 AM
Apr 2017

- but I think we have both got decent info here so far...and it sure is the kind of info we're ready to hear, by cracky!!

truthisfreedom

(23,113 posts)
3. extra-legal measures must be taken to protect his life
Mon Apr 10, 2017, 12:49 AM
Apr 2017

So he can arrive safely on US soil and be disappeared.

MedusaX

(1,129 posts)
8. This article indicates Criminal charges... rather than
Mon Apr 10, 2017, 01:39 AM
Apr 2017

National Security related

It also indicates that another russian programmer was arrested in january for leading a financial fraud
Network... charges possibly related


http://www.theage.com.au/world/trumprussia-programmer-pyotr-levashov-suspected-in-us-election-hacking-arrested-20170409-gvhdmx.html

IthinkThereforeIAM

(3,072 posts)
10. I knew I had read of the Spaniards holding at least one...
Mon Apr 10, 2017, 04:14 AM
Apr 2017

... while awaiting proper extradition procedures, as mentioned, perhaps back in January.

Yo_Mama

(8,303 posts)
15. They say it is a criminal rather than NSA charge:
Mon Apr 10, 2017, 07:27 AM
Apr 2017
The criminal division is separate from the national security division, which is responsible for investigating state-sponsored cyber crimes.

A US Department of Justice official said it was a criminal matter without an apparent national security connection.


This doesn't exclude that it could be related to the DNC hack, because there are criminal statutes relating to that type of thing.

AnnaLewin

(2 posts)
11. more info
Mon Apr 10, 2017, 05:34 AM
Apr 2017

“I asked for an order or some other paperwork but they told me they showed them to my husband. I spoke to my husband on the phone when he was taken to police station. He told me he was shown some document in Spanish with a low-res photo of him. They said something about a virus that my husband had allegedly created and that it has something to do with Trump winning the presidential elections,” - wife of arrested Russian hacker. found details on Russian news web site: https://en.crimerussia.com/gromkie-dela/spain-arrests-alleged-russian-cybercriminal-at-us-request/

Sancho

(9,065 posts)
13. Not reported on any shows this am....
Mon Apr 10, 2017, 06:56 AM
Apr 2017

the missile attack has changed the discussion about Russian hacking. That was the plan and it worked.

Achilleaze

(15,543 posts)
16. republicans gnash teeth, rend garments
Mon Apr 10, 2017, 07:41 AM
Apr 2017

and wail and whine into the wee hours of the night. Another of their anti-American russian BFFs is in custody.

Leghorn21

(13,520 posts)
18. Word is rippling out, at least on the web..
Mon Apr 10, 2017, 10:42 AM
Apr 2017

Such arrests aren't unusual — American authorities typically try to nab Russian cybercrime suspects abroad because of the difficulty involved in extraditing them from Russia — but Levashov's arrest drew immediate attention after his wife told Russia's RT broadcaster that he was linked to America's 2016 election hacking.

RT quoted Maria Levashova as saying that armed police stormed into their apartment in Barcelona overnight, keeping her and her friend locked in a room for two hours while they quizzed her husband. She said that when she spoke to her husband on the phone from the police station, he told her he was told that he had created a computer virus that was "linked to Trump's election win."

Levashova didn't elaborate, and the exact nature of the allegations weren't immediately clear. Malicious software is routinely shared, reworked and repurposed, meaning that even a computer virus' creator may have little or nothing to do with how the virus is eventually used.

Levashov's name is familiar in cybercrime circles. He has been alleged to be spam kingpin Peter Severa, according to Brian Krebs, a journalist who has written extensively about the Russian cybercrime underworld, and Spamhaus , a group which polices spam.

https://www.usnews.com/news/technology/articles/2017-04-10/alleged-russian-hacker-arrested-in-spain-at-us-request

chia

(2,235 posts)
20. RT is Russian propaganda, so
Mon Apr 10, 2017, 11:48 AM
Apr 2017

I'll take anything they say with a grain of salt while looking for sources I can trust.

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