Two Israeli men accused of orchestrating a series of hacks on the computers of several US financial institutions as part of an elaborate stock manipulation scheme have pleaded 'not guilty' as they face trial in a Manhattan court
Gery Shalon and Ziv Orenstein were both extradited from Israel this week to appear before US magistrate Judge Nathaniel Fox while a third defendant Joshua Samuel Aaron remains on the run.
The three face charges relating to long-running scheme to manipulate share trading by stealing customer information dating as far back as 2007. Prosecutors allege that the hacks facilitated a string of criminal activities including illegal internet casinos, a payment processing service for criminals and an unlicensed bitcoin exchange.
The illegal scheme hit the headlines in 2014 when J.P. Morgan Chase disclosed that it had suffered a major data breach involving the loss of data related to 83 million accounts. A number of other US banks were also attacked, including Citi, HSBC and E*Trade, but Fidelity Investments was the only other institution to suffer a data loss.
The defendants were refused bail and will remain in custody until the trial begins in October.