Armenian national Karen Serobovich Vardanyan, 33, was extradited from Ukraine last month and now faces up to five years in prison for his role in Ryuk, prosecutors said on Wednesday. The DOJ said if convicted, Vardanyan faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison, three years’ supervised release, and a fine of $250,000 for each count. Federal prosecutors explained that Vardanyan is one of several Ryuk actors facing legal action. Court documents said Vardanyan and his co-conspirators launched over 2,400 ransomware attacks on victims around the world, including multiple state and local municipalities. Two Ukrainians — 53-year-olds Oleg Nikolayevich Lyulyava and Andrii Leonydovich Prykhodchenko — were also charged in connection to Ryuk activity but are not in custody. U.S. officials previously took down Ryuk’s money laundering operations and experts tied the ransomware gang to a Russian group that also manages the Trickbot malware. Vardanyan was arrested in Kyiv in April and sent to the U.S. on June 19, appearing in federal court on June 20. Ryuk was first detected in August 2018 and the malware has previously been linked to Russian cybercriminals.
This Cyber News was published on therecord.media. Publication date: Thu, 17 Jul 2025 15:45:15 +0000