ACCORDING to the DOJ’s press release, two American cybersecurity professionals, Ryan Goldberg and Kevin Martin, were sentenced today to four years in prison each for their role in a conspiracy to extort through ransomware in 2023. The court documents state that they, along with Angelo Martino, deployed the ALPHV BlackCat ransomware between April 2023 and December 2023 against multiple U.S. victims and agreed to pay the ransomware operators a 20% share of any ransoms.
All three men, who had worked in the cybersecurity industry, extorted a victim for approximately $1.2 million in Bitcoin, with their 80% share divided three ways and laundered through various means. The report notes that Martino has yet to be sentenced. The proceedings framed the case as obstructing, delaying, or affecting commerce through extortion in connection with ransomware attacks.