The Russian hacker that was accused of breaching LinkedIn and several other U.S. companies back in 2012 has finally been extradited to the United States from the Czech Republic.
According to Reuters a spokesman for the Czech Justice Ministry has confirmed that Yevgeniy Nikulin, the Russian Citizen suspected of the cyber attacks, had been extradited to face hacking charges in the U.S.
U.S. Justice Department indicted Nikulin in October 2016 for hacking LinkedIn, Dropbox and Formspring, a now-defunct social networking site, in 2012.
Shortly after the indictment, the Czech Republic Authorities in cooperation with the FBI arrested Nikulin.
The hold-up in the extradition process was caused by Moscow when shortly after the arrest they sent another extradition request where they wanted him extradited to Russia on separate charges from acts committed in 2009.
The Czech Republic Authorities were considering both requests for more than a year before approving the U.S. request.
The decision comes only days after House Speaker Paul Ryan said during his trip to Prague, the Czech capital, that he hoped Nikulin would eventually be extradited.
The Hill reported that Nikulin is accused of hacking into computers belonging to the San Francisco-based companies and stealing usernames, email addresses, and passwords. He allegedly later attempted to sell the information stolen from Formspring. The breach compromised the emails and passwords of 117 million LinkedIn users.
CNN confirmed that Nikulin arrived in the US overnight and is expected to appear in federal court in San Francisco.
He is charged with computer intrusion, aggravated identity theft, trafficking in unauthorized access devices and conspiracy.
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