US charges Russian oligarch, dismantles cybercrime operation

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department announced Wednesday that it had charged a Russian oligarch with sanctions violations and that officials have dismantled a cybercrime operation controlled by a Russian military intelligence agency.

The case against against Konstantin Malofeyev accuses him of trying to evade earlier Treasury Department sanctions by seeking to secretly acquire media organizations across Europe. Officials also seized millions of dollars they say are traceable to the sanctions violations.

The announcement comes two days after U.S. officials seized a yacht in Spain belonging to a Russian oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg, with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Justice Department in the last year has taken aim against Russia-based cybercrime, recovering in June most of a multimillion-dollar ransom that Colonial Pipeline paid to hackers after a ransomware attack that halted operations and announcing charges last fall against two suspected ransomware operators.