German court blocks US extradition for "number two" hacker

 

A German court has put the brakes on efforts to extradite a suspected hacker to the US, arguing that the potential sentence of almost 250 years he faces there is excessive by German standards.

32-year-old Turkish national Ercan Findikoğlu has been held in Germany since his arrest at Frankfurt Airport in December 2013. Since then there have been several legal stages, with approval given to the extradition by a regional court in August of this year.

Now the country's highest court, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany or Bundesverfassungsgericht based in Karlsruhe, has overturned that decision, questioning both the extreme length of the sentence threatened by US authorities, and also the inclusion of a "conspiracy" charge not compatible with German law.

The decision was made on November 20th, and details were revealed this week by news magazine Der Spiegel, which played a major part in revealing the NSA secrets leaked by Edward Snowden.

Earlier Spiegel Online reports (in German) connect Findikoğlu to massive global card heists in late 2012 and early 2013, involving hacking of systems in India operated by payment processing firms EnStage and ElectraCard.

In lengthy penetrations the hackers were able to doctor accounts for prepaid debit cards, removing withdrawal limits so that a team of carders armed with stolen PINs and cloned cards could take out large sums in orchestrated cash-outs.

In separate swoops targeting the two companies, it's believed at least $45 million was withdrawn from ATMs around the world, including over 140 in New York alone.

The first heist, involving cards from the National Bank of Ras Al-Khaima (RAKBANK), UAE, stolen in the ElectraCard hack, seems like something of a practice run, scoring a mere $5 million in December 2012.  read more>>