Ransomware recovery firm boss charged with secretly paying attackers and overcharging victims
MonsterCloud owner Zohar Pinhasi charged with wire fraud for secretly paying ransomware gangs over $8M while billing victims over $19M.
Zohar Pinhasi (aka Zack Silver and Zack Green), a 50-year-old US-Israeli national from Hollywood, Florida, was charged with two counts of wire fraud and one count of wire fraud conspiracy, each carrying up to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors allege he charged MonsterCloud clients more than $19 million while secretly paying over $8 million to ransomware gangs; in August 2023 he paid roughly $8,200 for a decryptor and billed the client about $150,000. DOJ says MonsterCloud had no proprietary decryption technology despite its marketing claims, and paid testimonials came from paid spokespersons.
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