U.S. authorities have extradited three Russian nationals since June to face charges in separate cybercrime cases involving malware attacks, bank fraud and the hacking of government and private-sector organizations.
The extraditions from Cyprus, Georgia and Thailand come as Washington steps up efforts to prosecute suspected cybercriminals operating outside the United States. The three men are accused of schemes that collectively affected tens of thousands of people and caused millions of dollars in losses.
The most recent case involves Searzhudin Aktulayev, 40, who was arrested in Cyprus in May 2025 and extradited to the United States on Aug. 28. He made his first appearance in federal court in San Francisco on Aug. 31.
The U.S. Embassy in Cyprus on Thursday congratulated Cypriot police on the extradition.
Prosecutors allege that Aktulayev and his co-conspirators used about 255 fake accounts on an online platform for freelance workers to send malicious files to approximately 80,000 users between 2016 and 2017.
