BALTIMORE — An Iranian national pleaded guilty to participating in an international ransomware scheme targeting multiple cities, including Baltimore.
According to court documents, 37-year-old Sina Gholinejad and his co-conspirators compromised the computer networks of cities, corporations and health care organizations with Robbinhood to extort ransom payments.
Baltimore lost more than $19 million from damage caused to their computer networks. This caused a disruption to several essential city services, including online services for processing property taxes, parking citations and water bills.
The Department of Justice said these acts lasted many months.
Beginning in January 2019, Gholinejad and others gained and maintained unauthorized access to computer networks and then copied information to virtual private servers, the DOJ said.
Gholinejad pleaded guilty to one count of computer fraud and abuse and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.
