18 U.S.C. § 1343
Wire Fraud
Key Facts
- Statutory Citation: 18 U.S.C. § 1343.
- Official Offense: Wire Fraud.
- Jurisdiction: United States (Federal).
- Correlated across 8 primary case matters in this library.
Prosecutorial Elements in Cyber Cases
Applies broadly whenever defendants use interstate internet servers, phishing emails, spoofing, or electronic payment rails to execute a fraudulent scheme to obtain money or property.
Statutory Sentencing Exposure
Up to 20 years imprisonment per count (30 years when affecting a financial institution), plus mandatory victim restitution under the MVRA.
Representative Prosecution Cases (8)
ALPHV / BlackCat Ransomware Attack on Change Healthcare
Devastating ransomware attack and data extortion of Change Healthcare (UnitedHealth Group) that paralyzed medical billing, prescription processing, and healthcare provider reimbursement nationwide.
Colonial Pipeline DarkSide Ransomware Attack
DarkSide ransomware extortion against the largest refined petroleum pipeline system in the United States, forcing the shutdown of 5,500 miles of fuel pipelines and triggering widespread East Coast fuel shortages.
U.S. v. Roman Seleznev (Track2 Point-of-Sale Carding)
Prolific cybercriminal (Track2) who hacked into more than 500 small businesses and restaurants across the United States, stealing millions of credit card numbers and generating tens of millions of dollars in illicit sales on automated carding portals.
U.S. v. Yaroslav Vasinskyi (Kaseya VSA / REvil Ransomware)
Ukrainian national and REvil ransomware affiliate responsible for deploying the ransomware attack that hijacked Kaseya VSA management software, instantly encrypting up to 1,500 downstream businesses on July 4th weekend.
U.S. v. Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov (Tesla Insider Threat Attempt)
Russian national who traveled to Nevada and offered a $1 million Bitcoin bribe to an employee at the Tesla Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada, to introduce malware onto the company's internal network.
U.S. v. Peter Levashov (Kelihos Botnet)
Russian operator (Severa) of the notorious Kelihos botnet, controlling over 100,000 infected computers worldwide used to harvest credentials, distribute ransomware, and blast billions of spam and stock pump-and-dump emails daily.
U.S. v. Aleksandr Brovko (Botnet Parsing & Credential Sales)
Russian national who developed automated scripts to parse botnet logs, extracting financial information and account credentials from thousands of victim computers and marketing them on cybercrime forums.
U.S. v. Sergey Medvedev et al. (Infraud Organization)
Global cybercrime enterprise operating under the slogan 'In Fraud We Trust' with over 10,000 members, trafficking in stolen identities, counterfeit documents, compromised credit cards, and banking trojans.