Ukrainian lawyer loses appeal against extradition to US over ransomware conspiracy charges
Fiona Magennis
A Ukrainian lawyer who fled his homeland due to the war and sought refuge in Ireland has lost his appeal against a High Court decision ordering his extradition to the United States, where he is accused of using ransomware to extort over €600,000 in cryptocurrency from victims.
In February this year, the High Court granted an extradition request from US authorities for Oleksii Oleksiyovych Lytvynenko (42), who is wanted to stand trial on charges of conspiracy to commit computer-related fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
It is alleged that he was involved in the use of ransomware against a government entity and two businesses in Tennessee from 2020 to 2022 and that payment by two of the victims of the alleged ransomware was made in the sum of $634,000 in cryptocurrency.
Lytvynenko, who has been in custody for two years, had brought an appeal against Mr Justice David Keane’s order directing his extradition to America.
In a judgement delivered at the Court of Appeal on Monday, Ms Justice Tara Burns said the court was not upholding any of the grounds advanced by Lytvynenko and dismissed the appeal.
Tim O’Leary SC, representing Lytvynenko, asked the court for a week to consider the judgement before the implementation of the extradition order and the court acceded to this request.
Russian invasion
Lytvynenko was granted temporary protection in Ireland in September 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. His wife and child had earlier been granted temporary protection after arriving in Ireland the previous July.
In his High Court judgement granting Lytvynenko’s extradition last February, Mr Justice David Keane said the respondent was indicted by a federal grand jury sitting in the Middle District of Tennessee on May 22, 2023.
The indictment alleges that Lytvynenko and co-conspirators agreed to infect victims’ computers and defraud them with Conti ransomware, a type of malicious software which encrypted some or all of the data stored on victims’ computers.
Lytvynenko and his conspirators are also accused of demanding that the victims pay a cryptocurrency ransom in exchange for a decryption key for the encrypted data and a promise not to publicise the breach of the victims’ networks on the internet.
The indictment further alleges that Lytvynenko and his co-conspirators deployed Conti ransomware on at least three victims in the Middle District of Tennessee, including a government entity and two businesses.
Cryptocurrency ransom
Two of the victims paid a combined ransom of approximately $634,000 in cryptocurrency. The other victim declined to pay the ransom and ransomware actors published its data.
Lytvynenko appealed the extradition order on the grounds that it breached his right to a fair trail under the European Convention on Human Rights.
He submitted that having sought reunification with his family in Ireland after fleeing the war, he was deprived of an opportunity to gather and obtain evidence and witnesses from his war-torn country for the purposes of the extradition proceedings and for his defence in the US trial.
He said he was denied access to the evidence in his laptop and phones which were seized when he was arrested and this had obstructed his right to properly meet his case, both in the extradition proceedings and criminal proceedings against him in the USA if extradited.
Lytvynenko argued this was an abuse of process and denial of justice.
Lytvynenko had also contended that his human rights would be breached because his extradition to the US was incompatible with the State’s obligations under EU law to offer temporary protection and reunification to those fleeing war in the Ukraine.
Lytvynenko emphasised that he had not applied for international protection, but only for temporary protection in Ireland. He argued that extradition to the United States could result in the loss of this temporary protection, as no equivalent status exists there.
