Two American cybersecurity professionals were sentenced to four years each in prison for their role in a conspiracy to obstruct, delay, or affect commerce through extortion in connection with ransomware attacks occurring in 2023. Ryan Goldberg, 40, of Georgia, and Kevin Martin, 36, of Texas, were sentenced. According to court documents, they and another co-conspirator, Angelo Martino, 41, of Florida, successfully deployed the ransomware known as ALPHV BlackCat between April 2023 and December 2023 against multiple victims located throughout the United States. The three men agreed to pay the ALPHV BlackCat administrators a 20 percent share of any ransoms received in exchange for access to the ransomware and ALPHV BlackCat’s extortion platform.
All three men worked in the cybersecurity industry — meaning that they had special skills and experience in securing computer systems against harm, including the type of harm they themselves were committing against the victims in this case. After successfully extorting one victim for approximately $1.2 million in Bitcoin, the men split their 80 percent share of this ransom three ways and laundered the funds through various means.