The US Department of Justice has charged the leader of the ransomware LockBit gang, offering a reward of 10 million dollars for arrest

The Department of Justice has released a 26-count indictment charging Dmitry Khoroshev, a 31-year-old Russian citizen, with being the mastermind behind the notorious LockBit ransomware group. Khoroshev is accused of developing and managing the LockBit software and recruiting "affiliates" on cybercrime forums to carry out ransomware attacks. Since its inception in 2019, LockBit has become one of the most rampant ransomware in the world, with about 2,500 victims, 1,800 of them in the United States, for an estimated amount of 500 million dollars. The Justice Department says Khoroshev profited from 100 million dollars in Bitcoin and has now been sanctioned by the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). U.S. authorities are offering a $10 million reward for Khoroshev, who is still at large. He faces charges including conspiracy to commit fraud and racketeering, which carry a maximum sentence of 185 years in prison.