July 10, 2018. On July 6, 2018, a jury in federal court in Brooklyn, New York returned a guilty verdict against Glen Mills, Pennsylvania preacher, and former registered representative, Vitaly Korchevsky ("Korchevsky") and former registered representative Vladislav Khalupsky ("Khalupsky") in a criminal trial prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. The jury convicted the defendants on all counts, including securities fraud. U.S. District Court Judge Raymond J. Dearie has not yet set a date for sentencing.

The Commission previously charged Korchevsky, Khalupsky, and over 30 others with securities fraud for trading on hacked press releases in a civil action commenced on August 10, 2015. The criminal case is based on the same conduct underlying the SEC's action. The SEC charged that Ukrainian hackers used advanced techniques to hack into newswire services and steal hundreds of corporate earnings releases before the newswires released them publicly. The SEC charged that the hackers created a secret web-based location to transmit the stolen data to traders in Russia, Ukraine, Cyrpus, France, and three U.S. states, Pennsylvania, New York, and Georgia. The traders are alleged to have used this nonpublic information in a short window of opportunity to place illicit trades in stocks, options, and other securities, sometimes funneling a portion of their illegal profits to the hackers.

To date, the SEC has recovered over $53 million and obtained full injunctive relief from the 13 defendants who have agreed to settlements in that case.

In February 2016, the SEC also filed a related complaint charging nine additional defendants for taking part in the hacking scheme, SEC v. Zavodchikov, et al., Civil Action No. 2:16-cv-00845 (D.N.J.).

Previously, in parallel criminal actions in the Eastern District of New York and District of New Jersey, defendants Arkadiy Dubovoy, Igor Dubovoy, Aleksandr Garkusha, and Leonid Momotok, who are also defendants in the SEC case, pleaded guilty to criminal conduct.

The SEC thanks the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their efforts in prosecuting the case.

The Commission's litigation continues against the remaining defendants charged in its case. For more information, see Press Release 2015-163 (Aug. 13, 2015) and Litigation Releases 23345 (Sep. 14, 2015), 23458 (Feb. 2, 2016), 23471 (Feb. 18, 2016), 23498 (Mar. 24, 2016), 23530 (May 4, 2016), and 23682 (Nov. 2, 2016).