Rydox Admin Faces 20 Years After Selling Stolen Data and Fraud Tools
Kosovo's Ardit Kutleshi pleaded guilty to running Rydox, which sold stolen identities and fraud tools.
Ardit Kutleshi, a 28-year-old Kosovo citizen, pleaded guilty in the Western District of Pennsylvania to aggravated identity theft and money laundering conspiracy for running the Rydox marketplace. Since 2016, Rydox completed more than 7,600 sales of stolen PII, access devices, and cybercrime tools, listing over 321,000 products to about 18,000 users and taking in roughly $232,000, with thousands of U.S. victims. The FBI arrested him in Kosovo in December 2024, seized Rydox and servers in Malaysia with the Royal Malaysian Police, and seized about $225,000 in cryptocurrency. He faces a mandatory minimum of two years and up to 20 years, with sentencing scheduled for February 9, 2027; his brother Jetmir pleaded guilty separately and was deported.