In 2010, a US court sentenced Russian hacker Nikita Kuzmin, creator of the “Gozi” computer virus, to 37 months prison.
At Kuzmin's most recent case review, the US Attorney's Office decided the hacker had served his time. The court ruled, however, that Kuzmin still owes around $7 million in damages.
The Gozi virus allowed hackers to withdraw money from foreign bank accounts accessed on infected computers. Investigators believe Kuzmin “rented out the virus” for other hackers to use and earned around $25 million in the process.
The Gozi virus infected computers at many large international companies, including terminals at US space agency NASA.