Washington Man Sentenced in Ransomware Conspiracy

A federal judge has sentenced a Maple Valley, Wash. man to 18 months in prison for his role in a scheme based on Reveton ransomware. Raymond Odigie Uadiale, 41, a former employee of Microsoft, was sentenced following his June 4 guilty plea.

Reveton displayed a splash screen with the logo of a law enforcement organization. The screen included a message alerting the victim that the law enforcement organization had found illegal material on the infected computer and required the payment of a "fine" to regain access to the computer and its data.

The victim was instructed to purchase a GreenDot MoneyPak and enter the account number into a form on the splash screen. Using the information from these cards, Uadiale transformed the MoneyPak funds into cash, kept a portion for himself, and sent a portion back to Reveton’s distributor in the United Kingdom.

Indicted on one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of substantive money laundering, Uadiale pled guilty to the conspiracy charge while the government dismissed the substantive count. In addition to his prison sentence, Uadiale was sentenced to three years of supervised release. 

According to court documents, while a graduate student at Florida International University, Uadiale used Liberty Reserve (a digital currency platform) to transfer approximately $93,640 in Liberty Reserve dollars to his co-conspirator as part of the scheme.

For more, read here.

Learn from the industry's most knowledgeable CISOs and IT security experts in a setting that is conducive to interaction and conversation. Early bird rate ends August 31. Click for more info.