Western District of Washington French cybercriminal pleads guilty to fraud and aggravated identity theft for hacking private information United States Department of Justice
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ppSeattle A 22yearold French citizen from Epinal France pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in US District Court in Seattle announced Acting US Attorney Tessa M Gorman Sebastien Raoult aka Sezyo Kaizen was arrested last year in Morocco and was extradited to the US in January 2023 Raoult and two coconspirators were indicted by a grand jury sitting in the Western District of Washington in June 2021 ppPeople often think their actions from behind a screen wont have consequences for them Raoult and his coconspirators used deceptive tactics to trick people into sharing personal login information and breached confidential data from numerous companies said Acting US Attorney Tessa M Gorman The FBI Seattle Cyber Task Force and our offices cyber unit work tirelessly to ensure victims of fraud and hacking like this get justiceppAccording to the plea agreement Raoult and his coconspirators hacked into protected computers of corporate entities for the theft of confidential information and customer records including personally identifiable information and financial information They hacked numerous companies including companies in Washington State elsewhere in the United States and around the world After Raoult and his coconspirators hacked companies a user going by the name ShinyHunters posted hacked data from many of those companies for sale on dark web forums including RaidForums EmpireMarket and Exploit Between April 2020 and July 2021 ShinyHunters posted sales of hacked data from more than 60 companies Sometimes ShinyHunters threatened to leak or sell stolen sensitive files if the victim did not pay a ransomppAccording to the records filed in the case Raoult helped create websites that pretended to be login pages belonging to legitimate businesses The conspirators sent phishing emails to company employees that were designed to look like they came from legitimate businesses and contained links to those login pages Victims provided their account signon credentials on those fake login pages and the conspirators obtained the victims credentials Raoult and his coconspirators used the login information to breach victims accounts steal the data stored there and search the stolen data for credentials to access additional data on companies networks and thirdparty service providers such as cloud storage services In total the conspirators stole hundreds of millions of customer records and caused loss to victim companies that is estimated to exceed 6 millionppThe conspiracy to commit wire fraud is punishable by a maximum of 27 years in prison Aggravated identity theft is punishable by a mandatory minimum twoyear prison term to follow any other prison sentence imposed in the caseppThe case is being investigated by the FBI Seattle Cyber Task Force The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Miriam R Hinman DOJs Office of International Affairs is providing substantial assistance The Department of Justice also appreciates the significant cooperation and assistance provided by Moroccan and French authoritiesppPress contact for the US Attorneys Office is Delaney Hewitt at 206 5537970 or DelaneyHewittusdojgovppSeattle A federally convicted Ponzi schemer was arrested today in South Florida following an hourslong standoff with FBI Miami announced Acting US Attorney Tessa M GormanppSeattle A 42yearold Everett Washington man was sentenced today in US District Court to 6 years in prison and three years of supervised release for cyberstalking and making interstate threatsppSeattle Two significant players in a scheme to bribe Amazon employees and contractors were sentenced today in US District Court in Seattle to various federal charges for their schemeppWestern District of Washington
Seattle Main Office
United States Attorneys Office
700 Stewart Street Suite 5220
Seattle WA 981011271ppTelephone 206 5537970ppFax 206 5530882ppStay ConnectedppppHave a question about Government Servicesp
Official websites use gov
A gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States
pp
Secure gov websites use HTTPS
A lock
Lock
A locked padlock
or https means youve safely connected to the gov website Share sensitive information only on official secure websites
ppSeattle A 22yearold French citizen from Epinal France pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in US District Court in Seattle announced Acting US Attorney Tessa M Gorman Sebastien Raoult aka Sezyo Kaizen was arrested last year in Morocco and was extradited to the US in January 2023 Raoult and two coconspirators were indicted by a grand jury sitting in the Western District of Washington in June 2021 ppPeople often think their actions from behind a screen wont have consequences for them Raoult and his coconspirators used deceptive tactics to trick people into sharing personal login information and breached confidential data from numerous companies said Acting US Attorney Tessa M Gorman The FBI Seattle Cyber Task Force and our offices cyber unit work tirelessly to ensure victims of fraud and hacking like this get justiceppAccording to the plea agreement Raoult and his coconspirators hacked into protected computers of corporate entities for the theft of confidential information and customer records including personally identifiable information and financial information They hacked numerous companies including companies in Washington State elsewhere in the United States and around the world After Raoult and his coconspirators hacked companies a user going by the name ShinyHunters posted hacked data from many of those companies for sale on dark web forums including RaidForums EmpireMarket and Exploit Between April 2020 and July 2021 ShinyHunters posted sales of hacked data from more than 60 companies Sometimes ShinyHunters threatened to leak or sell stolen sensitive files if the victim did not pay a ransomppAccording to the records filed in the case Raoult helped create websites that pretended to be login pages belonging to legitimate businesses The conspirators sent phishing emails to company employees that were designed to look like they came from legitimate businesses and contained links to those login pages Victims provided their account signon credentials on those fake login pages and the conspirators obtained the victims credentials Raoult and his coconspirators used the login information to breach victims accounts steal the data stored there and search the stolen data for credentials to access additional data on companies networks and thirdparty service providers such as cloud storage services In total the conspirators stole hundreds of millions of customer records and caused loss to victim companies that is estimated to exceed 6 millionppThe conspiracy to commit wire fraud is punishable by a maximum of 27 years in prison Aggravated identity theft is punishable by a mandatory minimum twoyear prison term to follow any other prison sentence imposed in the caseppThe case is being investigated by the FBI Seattle Cyber Task Force The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Miriam R Hinman DOJs Office of International Affairs is providing substantial assistance The Department of Justice also appreciates the significant cooperation and assistance provided by Moroccan and French authoritiesppPress contact for the US Attorneys Office is Delaney Hewitt at 206 5537970 or DelaneyHewittusdojgovppSeattle A federally convicted Ponzi schemer was arrested today in South Florida following an hourslong standoff with FBI Miami announced Acting US Attorney Tessa M GormanppSeattle A 42yearold Everett Washington man was sentenced today in US District Court to 6 years in prison and three years of supervised release for cyberstalking and making interstate threatsppSeattle Two significant players in a scheme to bribe Amazon employees and contractors were sentenced today in US District Court in Seattle to various federal charges for their schemeppWestern District of Washington
Seattle Main Office
United States Attorneys Office
700 Stewart Street Suite 5220
Seattle WA 981011271ppTelephone 206 5537970ppFax 206 5530882ppStay ConnectedppppHave a question about Government Servicesp
