Canadian accused in Yahoo hack posed ‘extremely high flight risk’: documents
A Canadian man accused in a massive hack of Yahoo emails posed an “extremely high flight risk” in part due to his alleged ties to Russian intelligence agents, law enforcement officials allege in documents filed with an Ontario court.
In an application for Karim Baratov’s arrest, U.S. authorities describe the 22-year-old Hamilton resident as an alleged “hacker-for-hire” paid by members of the Russian Federal Security Service, known as the FSB.
They argue in the documents that Baratov allegedly has the money to leave Canada and the ability to destroy evidence related to his alleged activities while on the run.
“Given the serious nature of his conduct, the public impact of his hacking-for-hire conduct, his substantial earnings as a result of the unlawful hacking, and his ties to foreign intelligence officers with nation state resources at their disposal, he should be arrested on an urgent basis and detained,” the documents say.