On July 11, the jury at the US District Court for the Northern District of California found Russian citizen Yevgeny Nikulin guilty on nine counts of cybercrime, according to a live broadcast of the court session via Zoom.
The judge said it was a unanimous decision and read out the verdict.
According to the verdict, the jury disagreed with the prosecutors’ reasons and cleared Nikulin of two sections of two counts. However, the Russian citizen was still found guilty on those counts.
It took the jury several hours to pass the decision. The sentencing will take place in San Francisco at 14:00 on September 29, 2020, the District Court for the Northern District of California said.
Nikulin’s lawyer Arkady Bukh told TASS that the verdict will be appealed."We are certainly filing an appeal. An agreement with the family has already been reached. A huge injustice has taken place," he said.
The lawyer said a psychiatric examination ordered by the judge found that Nikulin had problems with his mental health.
“Apparently, there will be some other additional reasons," Bukh said.
In his words, an appeal must be filed within 60 days, "but some changes are possible due to the Coronavirus." "But we are certainly going to the court of appeal," he added.
The trial of Nikulin, accused of cybercrimes in the US, began in San Francisco on March 9, but it was suspended on March 16 due to the spread of the Coronavirus.The US accuses Nikulin of hacking into computers belonging to LinkedIn, Dropbox, and Formspring's online services The US authorities hold Nikulin responsible for several crimes, including hacking into computer systems and theft of personal data. He was detained in Prague on October 5, 2016. In November 2016, a request for Nikulin’s extradition was lodged by Russia, where he is accused of stealing $3,400 through the Internet in 2009.
The Czech Republic on March 31 confirmed that Nikulin was extradited to the United States. On the same day, he faced the court in San Francisco to plead not guilty.
