US prosecutors on Thursday said they have extradited a Canadian man to America to face charges that he conspired to distribute ransomware.
The Justice Department identifies Vachon-Desjardins as “a former Canadian government employee” without specifying which government agency.
An investigation led by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police identified 17 Canadian companies targeted by Vachon-Desjardin.
The US indictment [PDF] against Vachon-Desjardins alleges he was involved in deploying the NetWalker ransomware against an unidentified company in Tampa.
The US stepped up its effort to deal with ransomware following the compromise of Kaseya’s IT management software last year.
Vachon-Desjardins’s attorney Mark O’Brien told The Register in an email that his client pleaded not guilty today and a trial is scheduled for May. If convicted in America, Vachon-Desjardins would serve any US prison term first and time left unserved from his Canadian sentence would be served in Canada.
