U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission scandal back in the spotlight

A major Securities and Exchange Commission scandal that broke in July 2015 is back in the spotlight as the U.S. Attorney General for the Southern District of New York unsealed the indictment and revealed additional charges Tuesday.

The scandal is linked to the online casino industry impacting a dozen online casinos in the Affactive, Netad Management and RevenueJet groups, who abruptly ceased business earlier this year, leaving both players and affiliates unpaid.

Today (Tuesday) the Attorney General and Manhattan U.S. Attorney announced charges stemming from the massive network intrusions at U.S. financial institutions, U.S. brokerage firms, a major news publication and other companies.

Attorney General of the United States Loretta E. Lynch, Preet Bharara – United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Diego Rodriguez – Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Robert J. Sica, Special Agent in Charge of the US Secret Service New York Field Office unsealed a superseding indictment charging Gery Shalon with orchestrating massive computer hacking crimes against U.S. financial institutions, brokerage firms, and financial news publishers, including the largest theft of customer data from a U.S. financial institution in history.

Shalon reportedly committed the crimes with Joshua Samuel Aaron and Ziv Orenstein .

Shalon is also alleged to have run unlawful internet casinos and illicit payment processors along with Bitcoin exchange Coin.mx.

A separate indictment charges Anthony R. Murgio with operating bitcoin exchange Coin.mx in the United States and related crimes.

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said: “As set forth in the indictment, these three defendants perpetrated one of the largest thefts of financial-related data in history – making off with the sensitive information of literally thousands of hard-working Americans.”

Sharon, Orenstein and Aaron face charges that include computer hacking, securities fraud, securities market manipulation, wire fraud, identity theft, conspiracy to flout the unlawful internet gambling enforcement act (UIGEA), operating illegal gambling businesses and unlawful payment processing.

The U.S. has requested Shalon and Orenstein’s extradition from Israeli authorities, however, Aaron remains at large.

The full release can be read here: http://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/attorney-general-and-manhattan-us-attorney-announce-charges-stemming-massive-network