Extortion Indictments Issued

August 21, 2000

Oleg Zezov and his accomplice, Igor Yarimaka, of Kazakhstan, were arrested by London police and are awaiting extradition to the U.S. on charges of extortion. They allegedly threatened financial news executive Michael Bloomberg with exposing holes in his Web site if he did not provide them adequate payment in exchange for advice on how to protect the site by pointing out some of its weaknesses. According to an FBI report, Zezov’s e-mail to Bloomberg included the language, “.... in any case will get my money for job done.” The U.S. District Court in New York, where the Bloomberg.com servers are located, indicted Zezov and Yarimaka on three counts of extortion, threats and unauthorized computer intrusion. A complaint has also been filed in this case against a third alleged co-conspirator, Elena Gorokhova, also of Kazakhastan.