July 1 (Reuters) – A 19-year-old man accused of being a member of the criminal hacking group “Scattered Spider” was extradited to the U.S. from Finland to face federal conspiracy charges in Illinois, the Justice Department said on Wednesday.
Peter Stokes, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Estonia, faces conspiracy, computer intrusion and fraud charges, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Tuesday.
Stokes was arrested by Finnish authorities in April after the issuance of an Interpol Red Notice and extradited to the U.S. last week, the department said. He made an initial appearance on Tuesday in federal court in Chicago and was ordered to remain in custody, it said.
The hacking group has been involved in more than 100 network intrusions, resulting in more than $100 million in ransom payments and millions more in damages to the victims, Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva said in the Justice Department statement.
U.S. prosecutors announced criminal charges in 2024 against other alleged members of Scattered Spider, a loose-knit community of hackers based mainly in North America and Europe. The group sprang from the Com, a wider network of mostly young, male, Internet-savvy bullies and petty criminals that has become notorious for its culture of extortion, sadism and violence.
Scattered Spider drew international notoriety in September 2023 when members broke into and locked up the networks of casino operators Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts International and demanded hefty ransoms. It has since continued targeting major multinational companies as well as individual cryptocurrency investors. The group is particularly notorious for the threats it makes against individual cybersecurity professionals.
Allison Nixon, the chief research officer with cybersecurity firm Unit 221B, said that Stokes was part of a group of hackers that had threatened her as long ago as 2022. Nixon, who has tangled with other hackers from the Com, said stricter punishments were needed to deter the cybercriminals.
“It is my hope that society can understand the stubbornly malicious nature of people from these online gangs, and how current diversion efforts are insufficient,” she told Reuters.
(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, Christian Martinez, Raphael Satter and AJ Vicens; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Mark Porter)
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