French Hacker Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud

A French computer science student linked to the ShinyHunters hacker group admitted he was involved in the sale of databases stolen from companies all over the world.

Sebastien Raoult

According to court documents, from at least November 2019 to June 2021, 22-year-old Sebastien Raoult, aka Sezyo Kaizen, from France, and his accomplices conspired in the hack of corporate entities to steal confidential information and customer records.
A user going by the username ShinyHunters asked for ransoms or sold the stolen data via hacker forums such as the now-defunct RaidForums and dark web marketplaces including, the now-defunct Empire Market. ShinyHunters sold data stolen from approximatelly 60 companies from April 2020 to June 2021.
To steal the data, Raoult and his co-defendants used phishing emails and websites to acquire the login credentials of their victims' employees.
After acquiring the login credentials, Raoult and his co-conspirators gained unauthorized access to accounts on third-party platforms such as a US-based code hosting and development platform. They would then steal proprietary source codes, gain access to their victim's network, and gain access to confidential databases that included customer information.
Raoult was arrested in Morocco in mid-2022 and extradited to the US in January 2023.
Raoult and his accomplices, 23-year-old Gabriel Kimiaie-Asadi Bildstein and 22-year-old Abdel-Hakim El Ahmadi, were charged in a nine-count indictment. They indictment charged them with, conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, four counts of wire fraud, and three counts of aggravated identity theft.
Raoult pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity on September 27, 2023. . He faces a maximum prison sentence of 27 years for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and a mandatory minimum of two years for aggravated identity theft.