Three hackers charged in biggest financial data breach ever

Global Business

Pump and dump. It’s classic fraud and nothing new on Wall Street but three men indicted on Tuesday have allegedly taken it to a whole new level. The men were charged for hacking 12 financial institutions, including J.P. Morgan.

Two Israeli men, Gery Shalon and Ziv Orenstein, and a U.S. citizen, Joshua Aaron allegedly hacked into more than 100 million customer accounts at J.P. Morgan and other firms specifically looking for people who actively trade in stocks.

They then allegedly blasted them with deceptive emails marketing penny stocks they were invested in. When the price went up, they offloaded their own shares making tens of millions of dollars over a period of three years beginning in 2012.

About a year ago, J.P. Morgan Chase revealed more than 80 million of its customers had been hacked, which was the biggest financial data breach in history.

The defendants have been charged with 23 offenses including securities and wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.

The Department of Justice said the charges in this case largely came about thanks to victims coming forward to hold the cyber-thieves accountable.

CCTV’s Karina Huber reports.

Three hackers charged in biggest financial data breach ever

Pump and dump. It's classic fraud and nothing new on Wall Street but three men indicted on Tuesday have allegedly taken it to a whole new level, who were charged for hacking 12 financial institutions, including J.P. Morgan. CCTV's Karina Huber reports.