Yevgeniy Nikulin

Hacking Activity

Yevgeniy Alexandrovich Nikulin is a Russian national identified by U.S. authorities as a computer hacker responsible for intrusions into several prominent American technology platforms. In 2012, Nikulin was alleged to have participated in a criminal network that included a Ukrainian national named Oleksandr Ieremenko. The group was linked to the hacking and data theft of LinkedIn, Dropbox, and Formspring — breaches that exposed the personal and login credentials of millions of users.

U.S. authorities were first tipped off about Nikulin in April 2014, though his arrest did not occur until more than two years later.

Arrest and Detention

Czech police arrested Nikulin in Prague on October 5, 2016, in connection with the 2012 intrusions. According to a report by TV Rain, his arrest may have resulted from a cooperative effort between U.S. authorities and Sergei Mikhailov of Russia's FSB.

Following his arrest, Nikulin was held at Pankrác Prison in Prague. On November 23, 2016, Russia submitted a competing extradition request, citing a separate 2009 case involving alleged theft from the online payment system WebMoney.

In February 2017, Nikulin's lawyer alleged that an FBI agent had visited him in Pankrác Prison in mid-November 2016 and again on February 7, 2017, purportedly offering him cash, an apartment, U.S. citizenship, and the dropping of all cyber charges in exchange for a confession to involvement in the 2016 Democratic National Committee email leak. These allegations added a significant layer of controversy to the case.

Extradition

The question of whether Nikulin would be extradited to the United States or to Russia remained unresolved for over a year. In late March 2018, then-U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan visited Prague and urged Czech authorities to extradite Nikulin to the United States. On March 30, 2018, Czech authorities granted the U.S. extradition request, and Nikulin was transferred to American custody. He pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

Trial and Conviction

Nikulin's trial was held in a United States District Court in San Francisco. On July 10, 2020, a federal jury convicted him on all but one of the counts he faced. On September 29, 2020, he was sentenced to 88 months in federal prison.

Controversy

The case attracted additional scrutiny when Bryan Paarmaan, who served as FBI Deputy Assistant Director in the International Operations Division, admitted to leaking details of Nikulin's indictment to Los Angeles Times reporter Del Quentin Wilber two days before the indictment was officially unsealed. The disclosure raised questions about information handling within the FBI during the high-profile investigation.