The Department of Justice unsealed a federal indictment Tuesday against three Russian nationals accused of running a criminal cyber network that drained more than $63 million from Americans in 21 states and targeted critical infrastructure including hospitals, schools, banks, and government agencies.
The three defendants, Alexander Alexandrovich Volosovik, 43, Kirill Andreevich Zatolokin, 34, and Yulia Vladimirovna Pankova, 29, operated out of St. Petersburg, Russia, through two companies: Media Land, LLC and ML.Cloud, LLC. A federal grand jury first indicted the trio in December 2024 on charges of conspiracy to commit computer fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. The indictment was unsealed Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio.
The companies offered what prosecutors describe as ‘bulletproof hosting,’ meaning servers and network infrastructure deliberately designed to help criminals evade law enforcement detection. Their client list was a who’s-who of cybercrime operations. Prosecutors say the network powered ransomware attacks, malware infections, phishing campaigns, brute force attacks, fraudulent domain registrations, and criminal online marketplaces.
“From their overseas safe haven, these defendants ran the criminal infrastructure that powered attacks on critical institutions across our nation,” said A. Tysen Duva, Assistant Attorney General in the DOJ’s Criminal Division. “Their actions put the American public at risk. We will continue to dismantle these networks and protect our critical infrastructure from cybercriminals at home and abroad.”
Victims were not limited to Ohio, where the case was prosecuted. U.S. Attorney David M. Toepfer noted the reach extended across 20 additional states. “They include banks, schools, government entities, hospitals, and media companies,” Toepfer said. “Together with our international partners, we will aggressively combat the efforts of individuals who hide behind computers anywhere in the world who seek to profit and wreak havoc by targeting the infrastructures that support our communities.”
The U.S. and allied governments had already sanctioned Media Land and ML.Cloud in 2025. Tuesday’s unsealing brought criminal charges into the open, with the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program now offering up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or location of foreign government associates connected to the defendants or their companies.
International cooperation played a significant role in the investigation. FBI Cleveland Special Agent in Charge Josh DelManzo credited global partnerships, alongside law enforcement agencies from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
“Today’s announcement underscores the importance of global partnerships and international collaboration, especially in a borderless world riddled with cyber criminals,” DelManzo said. “The FBI and its partners will continue to identify and cripple criminal networks and freeze their infrastructures to reduce or remove the threats to the public and further protect trusting individuals and companies.”
The three defendants remain at large. All three are believed to be in Russia, where extradition is not available under current conditions. The U.S. Attorney’s office declined to comment on the ongoing investigation, citing prosecutorial constraints.
The case follows a pattern of Russian state-adjacent actors using commercial fronts to enable cyberattacks on Western nations. While the DOJ stopped short of directly linking the defendants to the Russian government, the $10 million State Department reward specifically targets information about “foreign government-linked associates.”
