Delco Man Charged In $30M Scheme Is A Pastor, Report Says

A Delaware County man indicted Tuesday for what prosecutors called the “largest known computer hacking and securities fraud scheme” in the nation’s history is a pastor, according to a report.

Vitaly Korchevsky, 50, of Glen Mills, is the pastor of Slavic Evangelical Baptist Church in Brookhaven, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Korchevsky is among nine charged in the multi-million dollar scheme. He was arrested at his home Tuesday.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Korchevsky was part of an international ring of computer hackers who conspired to break into three of the largest press release services in the world to steal more than 150,000 unpublished news announcements containing sensitive financial information.

The illegally-obtained information was then used to make trades that generated approximately $30 million in illegal profits, making it the “largest scheme of its kind ever prosecuted,” prosecutors stated.

The 23-count indictment charged five defendants with wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering conspiracy: Ivan Turchynov, 27; Oleksandr Ieremenko, 24; and Pavel Dubovoy, 32; all from the Ukraine, and Arkadiy Dubovoy, 51, and Igor Dubovoy, 28, of Alpharetta, Georgia.

In addition, four people were charged with wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, and money laundering conspiracy: Vitaly Korchevsky, 50, of Glen Mills; Vladislav Khalupsky, 45, of Brooklyn, New York; and Odessa, Ukraine; Leonid Momotok, 47, of Suwanee, Georgia; and Alexander Garkusha, 47, of Cummings and Alpharetta, Georgia.

On Tuesday, the government seized 17 bank and brokerage accounts containing more than $6.5 million of alleged criminal proceeds. The government also took steps to restrain 12 properties worth an estimated $5.5 million, including a shopping center located in Pennsylvania, an apartment building located in Georgia and a houseboat.

THE ALLEGED SCHEME

According to prosecutors:

Between February 2010 and August 2015, Turchynov and Ieremenko gained unauthorized access into the computer networks of Marketwired, PR Newswire Association and Business Wire.

Turchynov and Ieremenko then used a series of sophisticated cyber attacks to gain access to the computer networks. The hackers moved through the computer networks and stole press releases about upcoming announcements by public companies concerning earnings, gross margins, revenues and other confidential and material.

At one point, one of the hackers sent an online chat message in Russian to another individual stating, “I’m hacking prnewswire.com.” In another online chat, Ieremenko told Turchynov that he had compromised the log-in credentials of 15 Business Wire employees.

In a series of emails, the hackers shared instructions on how to access and use an overseas server with their alleged conspirators, called “traders,” including Arkadiy Dubovoy, Korchevsky, Momotok, Igor Dubovoy, Pavel Dubovoy, Khalupsky and Garkusha.

The traders would then create “wish lists” to get unpublished press releases from publically traded companies including Align Technology, Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard, Home Depot, Panera Bread and Verisign.

Potential penalties for the alleged crimes include five to 20 years in prison and fines of up to twice the value of the illegal transfers.