An alleged member of the "Scattered Spider" hacking group has been arrested and extradited to the United States, US authorities announced on Wednesday.
Peter Stokes, 19, was arrested in Finland in April and faces charges of conspiracy, computer intrusion, and fraud, the Justice Department said in a press release.
Stokes, a dual US-Estonian national, appeared at a federal court on Tuesday in Chicago, where he was ordered to remain in custody.
A criminal complaint alleged that Stokes, along with coconspirators, targeted a luxury jewelry retailer’s computer system in May 2025, exfiltrating data from the firm and making a ransom demand of around $8 million in cryptocurrency.
No ransom was paid after the company's security personnel were able to remove the threat actors from its computer network. But the retailer is said to have made a loss of at least $2 million due to "business disruption, investigation, and mitigation of the threat".
