A 26-year-old Russian national has been sentenced to 6.75 years (81 months) in prison in the United States for helping major cybercrime groups, including the Yanluowang ransomware team, carry out numerous attacks on American companies and other organizations.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), Aleksei Olegovich Volkov facilitated dozens of ransomware attacks across the United States, resulting in more than $9 million in actual losses and more than $24 million in planned losses. Mr. Volkov was arrested in Italy on January 18, 2024, and extradited to the United States for prosecution. He pleaded guilty in November 2025.
Volkov allegedly served as an early access broker responsible for gaining unauthorized access to computer networks and systems belonging to various organizations and selling that access to other criminal groups, including ransomware attackers. This was accomplished by exploiting vulnerabilities or finding ways to access networks without permission.
“Mr. Volkov’s co-conspirators then used the access provided by Mr. Volkov to infect affected computer networks and systems with malware,” the Justice Department said. “The malware encrypted the victim’s data, making it inaccessible to the victim and harming business operations.”
“The conspirators then demanded that the victims pay ransoms in cryptocurrency, sometimes amounting to tens of millions of dollars, in exchange for restoring access to the victims’ data and promising not to publicly disclose the hack or publish the victims’ stolen data on ‘leaked’ websites.”
Each time a victim paid a ransom, Volkov received a portion of the illegal proceeds. He was charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and money laundering, as well as counts of unlawful transfer of identification, trafficking in access information, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft.
As part of the guilty plea, the defendant agreed to pay full restitution to the victims, including at least $9,167,198 in actual loss compensation to known victims and forfeiture of the tools used to commit the crime.
US charges third ransomware negotiator involved in BlackCat attack
The disclosure comes after U.S. prosecutors charged a third party with acting as a negotiator for ransomware group BlackCat (also known as ALPHV) and helping the attackers extort large payouts from at least 10 victims. A 41-year-old man, Angelo Martino (previously identified only as “Co-conspirator 1”), worked as a ransomware negotiator for DigitalMint.
In addition to seizing luxury cars and real estate, authorities seized nearly $9.2 million in five cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Monero, Ripple, Solana, and Stellar) from 21 wallets controlled by Martino. He could face up to 20 years in prison. Two other incident responders, Ryan Clifford Goldberg and Kevin Tyler Martin, pleaded guilty in December 2025 for their roles as BlackCat affiliates.
Digital Mint said in a statement shared with The Record that this behavior violated the company’s policies and ethical standards, and that it fired both Mr. Martino and Mr. Martin after their conduct became known.
“Digital Mint condemns the criminal conduct of these individuals. This is a clear violation of our values, ethical standards and the law.” “Both our company and the industry exist to support organizations suffering the effects of cyber-attacks, and this is completely contrary to our philosophy.”
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