Man Pleads Guilty to Trying to Bribe Worker With Bitcoin in Would-Be Extortion Attempt

The man traveled to the U.S. to recruit an employee to introduce malware into the unnamed company's network, the DOJ alleges.

Mar 19, 2021 at 10:05 a.m. UTC

Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 12:29 p.m. UTC

A Russian man has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to hack a U.S. company's computer network in which he attempted to bribe an employee with bitcoin in a thwarted extortion attempt.

Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov, 27, traveled to the U.S. to recruit an employee to his scheme to introduce malware into the unnamed company's network.
According to the announcement from the U.S. Justice Department on Thursday, Kriuchkov offered to pay the employee in bitcoin for committing the act.
The defendant made numerous trips between California and Nevada in August 2020 to entice the employee before the employee reported him to his employer, who in turn alerted the FBI.
Kriuchkov pleaded guilty to conspiracy to intentionally cause damage to a protected computer.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 10.

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