CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Division of the FBI announced during a news conference on Tuesday that three Russians from St. Petersburg have been indicted on a slew of charges for crimes against Ohioans, other Americans and individuals in several other countries.
The following individuals and companies were charged in a 75-page indictment for allegedly using ransomware to target companies and schools in Northeast Ohio, as well as other victims in other states and countries:
- Alexander Alexandrovich Volosovik, 43, of St. Petersburg, Russia
- Kirill Andreevich Zatolokin, 34, of St. Petersburg, Russia
- Yulia Vladimirovna Pankova, 29, of St. Petersburg, Russia
- Media Land, LLC, headquartered in St. Petersburg, Russia
- ML.Cloud, LLC, headquartered in St. Petersburg, Russia
They were each indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit and aid and abet computer fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The indictment was handed down in December 2024 and announced on Tuesday.
"The victims in this case are not only in Ohio, but also in 20 other states across the country, touching every aspect of Americans’ lives. They include banks, schools, government entities, hospitals, and media companies,” said United States Attorney David M. Toepfer for the Northern District of Ohio. “Together with our international partners, we will aggressively combat the efforts of individuals who hide behind computers anywhere in the world who seek to profit and wreak havoc by targeting the infrastructures that support our communities."
The indictment states that the defendants and the companies infected computers with ransomware and malware and then extorted victims for money and cryptocurrency.
The trio and Media Land LLC, a bulletproof hosting service, faced sanctions in November 2025 following a joint investigation between the FBI, the United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs.
Authorities said bulletproof hosting services sell "access to specialized servers and other computer infrastructure specifically designed to evade detection and defy law enforcement efforts to disrupt malicious cyber activities."
During the news conference, authorities did not provide specifics on which companies or schools in Northeast Ohio have been victims, but said individuals in Cleveland, Elyria, Akron, Medina and Valley View, among others, were targeted.
The U.S. State Department is offering up to $10 million in reward money for information "on foreign government-linked associates of Pankova, Volosovik and Zatolokin, their malicious cyber activities, or foreign government-linked use of Media Land or ML.Cloud."
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