U.S. Places $2 Million Bounty on Men in Alleged SEC Hacking

The U.S. will pay as much as $2 million for information leading to the arrests of two Ukrainian men accused of participating in a scheme to hack into the SEC’s company filings database and make illegal trades.

Artem Radchenko and Oleksandr Ieremenko each had a bounty of up to $1 million put on them for their roles in the 2016 hacking of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s EDGAR e-filing system, the State Department said Wednesday.

Radchenko recruited Ieremenko, who got into the SEC database and shared nonpublic information with Ukrainian and Russian traders who made at least $4.1 million in illicit profits, according to federal authorities. They face a criminal indictment in the United States for conspiracy to commit securities fraud.

“Cyber criminals do not observe nor respect the rule of law in any country,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. “As their criminal reach is worldwide, we welcome the cooperation and coordination of all governments to bring these criminals to justice and protect innocent citizens throughout the world.”

The SEC first disclosed the hack in 2017, raising questions among lawmakers and others about its ability to protect data. The agency has since worked to improve EDGAR’s security, according to a commission report.

The case is USA v. Radchenko, D.N.J., No. 19-cr-00030, indictment filed 1/15/19.