Thirty-two people have been charged over an alleged scheme to use stolen, unpublished news releases to make millions on illegal stock trades, US authorities said Tuesday, according to dpa. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said the alleged conspiracy netted 100 million dollars over several years and was one of the most intricate and sophisticated they had ever seen. The defendants include four traders and five alleged hackers indicted separately by grand juries in New York and New Jersey on securities fraud, money laundering and other charges. The four traders controlled large brokerage accounts for major US investment companies such as Fidelity, TD Ameritrade and Merrill Lynch, the indictment said. According to the SEC, Ivan Turchynov and Oleksandr Ieremenko, both residents of Ukraine, are suspected of spearheading the scheme. They hacked into newswire services and stole hundreds of corporate earnings announcements before the newswires released them publicly. The SEC charged that Turchynov and Ieremenko sent the stolen data to traders in Russia, Ukraine, Malta, Cyprus, France and the United States, who placed illicit trades in stocks, options and other securities. According to the SEC, Turchynov and Ieremenko hid the intrusions by using proxy servers to mask their identities and by posing as newswire service employees and customers. The complaint charges that the traders sometimes paid the hackers a share of their profits for the information. "This cyber hacking scheme is one of the most intricate and sophisticated trading rings that we have ever seen, spanning the globe and involving dozens of individuals and entities," said Andrew Ceresney, director of the SEC's division of enforcement. At least five men were arrested Tuesday morning, according to news reports. Most of the defendants are originally from Ukraine or Georgia.
