Feds: Russian man who created bank hacking software pleads guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud

ATLANTA – A Russian man who federal authorities say created a computer program used to drain bank accounts has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud charges.

Aleksandr Andreevich Panin, who’s also known as “Gribodemon,” appeared in court Tuesday.

Another man, Hamza Bendelladj, was also indicted in the case and pleaded not guilty in May after being extradited from Thailand, where he was arrested a year ago.

Authorities say the 24-year-old Panin is the main author of SpyEye. The program is a banking Trojan, which was implanted onto computers to harvest financial information and drain bank accounts. Authorities have said the malware impacted 253 financial institutions and is responsible for untold amounts of financial theft.