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Canada turned over a former government employee to US officials to face ransomware digital extortion charges. Canadian authorities also seized $28 million in cryptocurrency.
Sebastien Vachon-Desjardins was brought from his home in Quebec, Canada, to appear in court Thursday in Tampa, Florida. The indictment alleges that Vachon-Desjardins, 34, participated in the form of ransomware known as NetWalker to commit several extortion cybercrimes in 2020, according to a report. US Department of Justice Report.
While the Vachon-Desjardins victims were not identified in the report, the hacking collective under the name NetWalker was linked to millions of dollars in ransom schemes, including snatching $1.1 million from the UC San Francisco School of Medicine and more from other academic institutions in 2020.
Read more: A timeline of the biggest ransomware attacks
It is unclear how much money Vachon-Desjardins allegedly extorted from the victims, but Canadian officers executing a search warrant of his Quebec home seized 719 Bitcoin, currently valued at approximately $28,151,582 and $790,000 in Canadian currency, according to the Justice Department. The indictment alleges that $27 million was traced to the proceeds of his cyber crimes.
