A Kazakhstan man was yesterday found guilty of trying to extort $200,000 from Michael Bloomberg, founder of the Bloomberg financial news service, by a New York jury yesterday.

Oleg Zezov, 29, was convicted of hacked into Bloomberg's computer system, then emailed Bloomberg founder Michael Bloomberg threatening that the financial news service's reputation would be put at risk if he wasn't paid. The court heard the threat was made in March 2000, prior to Bloomberg's election as New York's mayor in 2001.

After receiving this threat, Bloomberg contacted the FBI and arranged to meet Zezov and alleged accomplice Igor Yarimika in London, where the pair was arrested in an FBI sting operation. The two men were subsequently extradited from the UK to face trial in the US.

The case against Yarimika is due to go to court later this year

Bloomberg was the star prosecution witness in the trial against Zezov.

Zezov, who reportedly "yelled obscenities at prosecutors and made other outbursts during his trial", now faces up to 20 years in prison, AP reports.

Zezov is due to be sentenced on May 23. ®

External Links

The indictment against Zezov and Yarimika (http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/bloombergIndict.htm)

Related Stories

Bloomberg extortion, hacking case opens in New York (http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/29218.html)
Extradition hearing in Bloomberg hack/extortion (http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/18196.html)
Bloomberg involved in Net sting (http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/12605.html)