Second NetWalker Ransomware Affiliate Sentenced to 20 Years in Jail
A Romanian man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for conducting ransomware attacks on healthcare providers and educational institutions during the pandemic. Daniel Christian Hulea, 30, was an affiliate of the NetWalker ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation.
In January 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice reported that more than $450,000 in cryptocurrency had been seized in a coordinated International law enforcement operation against the NetWalker ransomware group. That operation involved the seizure of NetWalker servers in Bulgaria, the analysis of which suggested NetWalker had a network of around 100 affiliates in Eastern Europe. The group is believed to have conducted more than 1,500 ransomware attacks since the Fall of 2019 and is thought to have been responsible for more than $146 million in extortion payments (1,500 BTC).
That operation led to charges being filed against a Canadian Netwalker ransomware affiliate, Sebastian Vachon-Desjardins. Vachon-Desjardins was alleged to have obtained more than $27.6 million in ransom payments from attacks in the United States and Canada. Vachon-Desjardins entered into a plea deal and was jailed for 20 years earlier this year. He also faces charges in Canada for alleged attacks on at least 17 Canadian companies. When sentencing Vachon-Desjardins, District Court Judge Willian Jung said it was one of the worst cases he had seen and if there had not been a plea deal and the case had gone to trial, Jung would have been sentenced to life in prison.
Hulea was arrested by Romanian law enforcement in his hometown of Cluj in Romania in July 2023 at the request of U.S. authorities and was extradited to the United States the same year to face charges in the Middle District of Florida. Hulea also entered into a plea deal on June 20, 2024, that saw him plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
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Hulea admitted to conducting multiple attacks on entities in the United States as an affiliate of the NetWalker ransomware group, from which he and a co-conspirator collected around $21.5 million in ransom payments (1,595 BTC). Hulea faced a maximum sentence of 5 years in jail for the computer fraud count and 20 years in jail for the wire fraud count. He was recently sentenced to 20 years in jail and ordered to forfeit the $21.5 million he earned from his attacks and surrender his stake in an Indonesian company that is currently constructing a luxury resort in Bali, Indonesia. Hulea must also pay $14,991,580.01 in restitution and assist with the prosecution of other NetWalker ransomware affiliates.
