A notorious hacker known as the “Don Corleone of cybercrime,” who was arrested nearly a decade ago for the infamous break-ins at JPMorgan Chase and other Wall Street firms, is reportedly cooperating with the federal government to carry out a new fraud.
Geri Sharon, a 40-year-old Israeli national, is suspected of targeting thousands of Europeans while in US custody after making a deal to avoid prison.
Sharon lived in a seven-bedroom house in Queens but allegedly ran a pan-European operation called Tradologic, which authorities say made at least 200 million euros from unsuspecting customers by setting up fake trading websites and call centers to sell bogus investments in binary options. According to Bloomberg News.
The fraud involves luring investors by posting fake advertisements on Facebook that depict European celebrities making money through unconventional schemes and methods.
Brokers based in European call centers called victims and tricked them into depositing as little as $320 as an initial fee.
Victims are then directed to a retention agent who trains them on how to “transact” on the counterfeit websites.
Investors who were duped into opening trading accounts were initially allowed to withdraw their funds as a confidence-building measure, but when they later tried to withdraw their money they were unable to do so because it had been transferred to an overseas company, Bloomberg News reported.
When customers demanded refunds, the company allegedly stopped responding to emails and phone calls.
A former associate of Sharon’s told Bloomberg News that despite cooperating with the FBI, Sharon was free to run his Europe-based crime ring from New York and boasted that he had “control over the FBI.”
Law enforcement officials in Austria and Germany have said the alleged conspirators were wearing listening devices, allowing police to eavesdrop on conversations involving Sharon.
“New York is great for business,” Sharon allegedly texted alleged co-conspirator Werner Boehm.
In February 2021, Austrian law enforcement authorities named Israeli national Ilya Tsoriya as one of the masterminds of the Tradologic scheme. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Sharon was arrested and extradited to the US in 2015 after orchestrating a series of cyber attacks, including the 2014 intrusion into JPMorgan Chase.
The JP Morgan hack exposed data on 76 million customers and 7 million companies, including company names, email addresses, and phone numbers.
This is believed to be one of the largest data thefts from a U.S. financial institution.
Federal prosecutors allege that Sharon, along with fellow Israeli national Ziv Orenstein and American Joshua Samuel Aaron, targeted 12 companies, including nine financial services firms, and media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal.
The alleged operations included inflating stock prices with fake promotional emails, operating an online casino, running an illegal bitcoin exchange, and laundering funds through at least 75 shell companies and accounts around the world.
Brokerage firms E*Trade Financial Inc. and Scottrade Inc. were also targeted, exposing the personal information of more than 10 million customers, according to a separate indictment unsealed in Atlanta against Sharon, Aaron and unnamed defendants.
Sharon attempted to avoid prison time by providing information to US authorities about cybercriminal activities.
He spent 10 months in a New York prison before being allowed to move into a seven-bedroom house in Queens with his wife and four daughters, and was finally sentenced in January 2021.
He allegedly bribed his father, a Russian banker, to help capture Aaron, who had fled to Russia. According to Bloomberg News.
As part of the cooperation agreement, Sharon gave up more than $400 million in ill-gotten gains.
In exchange for avoiding prison, Sharon provided information to authorities that led to the arrest of notorious co-conspirators, including Andrei Tyurin, the Russian specialist hacker who allegedly carried out the JP Morgan hack.
Sharon, who lives as a free man outside Tel Aviv, played a key role in helping authorities track down Peter Levashov, a Russian hacker who was wanted by the FBI for years for masterminding a global botnet scheme that led to identity theft.
The Washington Post has reached out to the FBI, the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan and the Department of Justice for comment.
With post wire
