Home > Law Enforcement > Russian Gets 12 Years in Prison for Hacking US Financial Institutions, Publishers

Russian Gets 12 Years in Prison for Hacking US Financial Institutions, Publishers

Andrei Tyurin targeted JPMorgan Chase Bank, E*TRADE, Scottrade, and The Wall Street Journal.

By Michael Katz


A Russian hacker has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for computer intrusion, wire fraud, and bank fraud in connection with a massive computer hacking campaign that targeted JPMorgan Chase Bank, E*TRADE, Scottrade, The Wall Street Journal, and other American companies.

According to the allegations 37-year-old Andrei Tyurin pleaded guilty to, he engaged in an extensive computer hacking campaign from 2012 to mid-2015 against financial institutions, brokerage firms, and financial news publishers in the US. He was also responsible for the theft of personal information of more than 100 million customers of the victim companies. 

The Justice Department said Tyurin’s hack of JPMorgan Chase Bank alone led to more than 80 million customers having their personal information stolen, and that he committed the crimes at the behest of his partner, Gery Shalon, and in furtherance of other criminal operations overseen and operated by Shalon and his co-conspirators. 

“Andrei Tyurin played a major role in orchestrating and facilitating an international hacking campaign that included one of the largest thefts of US customer data from a single financial institution in history,” Acting US Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a statement. “Now Tyurin has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for his crimes.”

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According to the indictment against him, Tyurin also conducted cyberattacks against US and foreign companies from 2007 to mid-2015 to further various criminal enterprises operated by Shalon and his co-conspirators, including unlawful internet gambling businesses and international payment processors. 

The Justice Department said that almost all of Shalon’s illegal businesses used Tyurin’s computer hacking campaigns, that Tyurin used computer infrastructure located in five continents that he controlled from his home in Moscow, and that he maintained persistent access over extended periods of time to the victims’ networks. When the hacking was eventually detected, Tyurin and Shalon worked to destroy the evidence of their crimes and hinder law enforcement efforts to identify and arrest them, according to the Justice Department.

Through the various criminal schemes, Tyurin, Shalon, and their co-conspirators obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit proceeds, and Tyurin himself earned more than $19 million in profits from his hacking activity.

Tyurin pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit computer hacking, one count of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to violate the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. 

In addition to the 12-year prison term, the Tyurin was ordered to serve three years of supervised release, and to pay forfeiture of just over $19.2 million. Tyurin has been in US custody since he was extradited from Georgia in 2018.  

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Home > News > Market Moves > With Inflation Expected to Edge Higher, BlackRock Says Buy TIPS
Market Moves

With Inflation Expected to Edge Higher, BlackRock Says Buy TIPS

They’re the best way to offset an upward trend in the CPI, the firm advises.
By Larry Light


Inflation is on the rise, if modestly, as shown by this morning’s Consumer Price Index (CPI), and by increases in bond yields. BlackRock’s answer: Invest in Treasury inflation-protected securities (TIPS).

“All this reinforces our view on growth, rates, and inflation, and underpins our preference for inflation-protected securities over nominal US Treasuries,” wrote Jean Boivin, head of the BlackRock Investment Institute, and his team, in a report released the day before the CPI announcement.  

“We expect the Fed to lean against any further spike in nominal bond yields,” the report said. Boivin wrote that he anticipated gradual inflation over the next two years at least.

Inflation last month rose 1.4% year over year, in line with market expectations, showing a small move-up. Expecting a slow upward trend in inflation, the benchmark 10-year Treasury’s yield has risen to 1.14% annually, compared with the 0.5% low point in March, amid the pandemic’s onset. Still, that’s a decent remove from the 1.8% at the start of last year, let alone the five-year high point of 3.2% at the end of 2018.

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With muted inflation for years, TIPS haven’t been the place to be. One of the most popular ways to invest in TIPS is the exchange-traded fund iShares TIPS ETF. This vehicle has recorded low- to mid-single digit returns over the past five years. It did perk up last year as inflation expectations stirred amid massive stimulus to combat the pandemic-induced recession. Nonetheless, the ETF trailed the overall bond market.

To BlackRock, the Federal Reserve can be counted on to prevent inflation from overheating—although many doubt a soaring CPI is likely anyway, given tech advances and foreign competition. A blip up, however, “could accelerate our new nominal theme,” the BlackRock report indicated, “pushing inflation higher over time, but with the Federal Reserve keeping the rise in US Treasury yields in check.”

Vexed by prolonged subdued inflation for years, the Fed has altered its inflation policy: The central bank now targets an average range instead of its longstanding 2% goal. That means inflation could rise above that 2% level, but the Fed would let it ride for a while.

Broadly speaking, the signs point in that direction. The break-even point, the expected inflation embedded into TIPS, is rising and now has almost reached the five-year top point, attained in October 2018. That’s when inflation last was thought to be on a climbing trend (not so much of one, it turned out).

This year, some expect inflation to shoot higher still. For instance, Jeff Gundlach, the DoubleLine Capital CEO, thinks the CPI will reach 3% by May or June. Appearing on CNBC earlier this week, he said, “I do think inflation is a real game changer, should it occur. That certainly is why rates are rising.”

The last time over the past decade that inflation breached 3% was in 2011, amid a post-recession burst (which ebbed, too). The CPI increase that year was 3.2%. Since the early 1980s, when the Fed crushed rampant inflation, the figure hasn’t crept above low single digits.

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