Prosecutors: Accused Russian hacker jailed here had 2.1 million stolen credit card numbers when arrested

SEATTLE -- A federal magistrate, citing a possible flight risk, on Friday ordered accused Russian hacker Roman Seleznev held without bail pending his October trial on charges.

Seleznev's lawyers had asked the court to release him to a furnished apartment in Seattle on a $1 million bond secured by $100,000 in cash, to essentially place him under house arrest.

But U.S. Magistrate James P. Donohue rejected the defense proposal, noting that Seleznev, 30, of  Vladivostok, Russia, has no ties to Western Washington, was a frequent international traveler, has large amounts of money in bank accounts around the world, and is computer savvy enough to create false identity documents, which would allow him to flee.

“Today was another important step in ensuring the charges against this defendant are tried in this community,” said U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan.  “The defendant is entitled to every protection offered by our system, but will be afforded no special privileges.  Our investigation into the scope of defendant's actions is ongoing.”

During the hearing, prosecutors revealed that a laptop computer seized from Seleznev at the time of his arrest contains 2.1 million stolen credit card numbers.

Seleznev, also known as “Track2,” was indicted by a federal grand jury in the Western District of Washington on March 3, 2011, and the indictment was unsealed on July 7, 2014.  Seleznev is charged in connection with operating several carding forums, which are websites where criminals gather to sell stolen credit card numbers, and hacking into retail point of sale systems and installing malicious software on the systems to steal credit card numbers.

Seleznev is charged with 29 counts: five counts of bank fraud, eight counts of intentionally causing damage to a protected computer, eight counts of obtaining information from a protected computer without authorization, one count of possession with intent to defraud of 15 or more unauthorized access devices (stolen credit card numbers), two counts of trafficking in unauthorized access devices and five counts of aggravated identity theft.

The case is being investigated by the U.S. Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force, which includes detectives from the Seattle Police Department.