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CRIME

Frenchman extradited to US on hacking charges pleads not guilty

Frenchman Sebastien Raoult pleaded not guilty to cybercrimes Friday in Seattle federal court, two days after he was extradited from Morocco.

Frenchman extradited to US on hacking charges pleads not guilty
Paul Raoult, 63, the father of detained Sebastien Raoult, shows a phone bearing a portrait of his son. Photo: Jean-Christophe Verhaegen/AFP

Federal Judge Michelle Peterson told the 21-year-old Raoult that he was charged with nine counts, including conspiracy, computer intrusion, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Raoult listened through an interpreter.

After Raoult’s plea of not guilty, the judge ordered him to be detained as a flight risk until a hearing April 3.

Moroccan authorities arrested Raoult at Rabat airport May 31 at the request of the US Department of Justice. Along with Raoult, two other French nationals were also arrested, Gabriel Bildstein, 23, and Abdel-Hakim El-Ahmadi, 22.

According to Raoult’s indictment, he and the other two men are alleged to have formed a hacking team, dubbed “ShinyHunters,” to steal confidential data from 60 companies to sell on the dark web where criminals routinely operate.

Some of the companies are located in the Seattle area.

According to experts, beginning in 2020, the hackers stole customer data from the Indonesian e-commerce site Tokopedia, the US clothing brand Bonobos, the US telecom AT&T and many other companies, putting the personal data for sale on the dark web.

The criminal charges carry a possible jail term of up to 27 years in prison.

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CRIME

Thieves again ram-raid luxury shop in France

Thieves on Thursday smashed a car into a luxury store for the third time this year in the same French city to steal handbags and other valuables, a police source said.

Thieves again ram-raid luxury shop in France

The burglary at dawn from the Hermes shop in the northeastern city of Lille comes just days after another store belonging to Louis Vuitton was targeted some 100 metres down the road on Wednesday last week.

The Louis Vuitton shop was itself already burgled in January.

The thieves on Thursday made off with clothes, jewelry and handbags, but part of the loot was abandoned on site, the source said.

They also left behind two cars, including the one used to ram-raid the shop, but police were on the lookout for a third vehicle used, the source added.

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