2024-05-13 23:00:00
One of the worst cyber hackers in the world is not done with justice even following being sentenced to 20 years in prison in the United States. For his unpaid taxes, the IRS recently seized his house in Gatineau, from which he extracted more than $30 million in ransom money from a variety of companies.
• Also read: 20 years in prison in the US for a hacker from Quebec
• Also read: Canadian hacker extradited to US for role in lucrative ransomware attacks
• Also read: The Gatineau pirate is said to have carried out 91 attacks
Sébastien Vachon-Desjardins has clearly not been able to get rid of his home, which he used for years to carry out his cyber attacks. Just under a month ago, he sold the house, located in a family neighborhood in Gatineau, at a discount to his parents. His girlfriend still lives there.
But that didn’t stop Revenu Québec from seeking seizure of the property, worth more than $500,000 according to the land roll, last week. The tax authorities want to raise the sale, and believe that the 36-year-old man has used tricks by transferring his building to his parents to keep it safe from creditors. The fallen cyberhacker owes more than $9 million in unpaid taxes, we learn in the motion.
Sébastien Vachon-Desjardins is currently cycling in a prison in Florida. When he was sentenced to 20 years in prison, an American judge compared him to the famous thief Jesse James, who ran rampant in the United States in the 1800s.
“You have one of the worst cases I’ve ever seen,” Magistrate William Jung also said in October 2022.
The Quebecer recently submitted a request to US courts to have the sentence reduced.
Gatineau hacker Sébastien Vachon-Desjardins
Courtesy
The most productive
He was arrested at his home in January 2021. Using Russian malicious ransomware, he carried out cyber attacks to extort companies and organizations.
“If a victim did not pay the ransom, the hackers refused to decrypt the data and published the stolen sensitive data online,” specifically on the secret web, court documents show.
Sébastien Vachon-Desjardins was one of the most prolific cyber hackers in his now dismantled criminal network. In the United States alone, it is linked to dozens of attacks equivalent to approximately $21.5 million in bitcoins, or more than $29 million in CAD.
It also caused 17 casualties in Canada, including Cégep Saint-Félicien and the town of Montmagny. The losses also amount to several million dollars.
“The data seized from the accused [lors de son arrestation]if printed, would fill an entire hockey rink,” an Ontario judge envisioned when sentencing him to seven years in prison.
A sentence that he is serving in connection with the one received in the United States, where he was extradited. He also had to pay back regarding $2.7 million to the Canadian companies he extorted.
He confesses everything
When he was caught following an FBI investigation, Vachon-Desjardins quickly cooperated with law enforcement authorities by confessing, thus avoiding several years of painstaking investigation.
His first step into the world of crime dates back to 2015. At the time, his Gatineau residence had also served as a hiding place for large amounts of drugs. In Quebec, he received federal sentences twice for drug trafficking.
Before getting into trouble with the law, the computer engineer worked for the Government of Canada and the University of Ottawa.
– In collaboration with Philippe Langlois
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