New York-based law firms dealing with Mergers and Acquisitions were surprised when they learned that three Chinese citizens made $4 million by trading valuable information after hacking into the networks and servers of two law firms working on Mergers.
Based on circumstantial evidence, the Manhattan Federal Court has issued an order to bring those Chinese citizens to New York for the final verdict.
Going into the details, Iat Hong of Macau, Bo Zheng of Changsha and Chin Hung of Macau were charged in an indictment filed in Manhattan Federal Court. Charges such as conspiracy, insider trading, wire fraud and computer intrusion were pressed against them.
As per the report filed by US Security and Exchange Commission, all three above mentioned men listed above declared themselves as stock brokers and bullion enthusiasts working for IT companies in China.
According to the latest hearing, all the three populace of China made around $4 million first by hacking the database of two law firms, siphoning valuable info about companies who were on the verge of being acquired and then trading shares from those companies to make profits after their acquisition.
As per the court orders issued last month by Manhattan Federal Court, Hong, 26, was arrested in Hong Kong on 25th December 2016. Hung, 50 and Zheng, 30 are still at large.
The federal court’s latest proceedings also divulged some astonishing details on this fraud. As per the details, the trio managed to hack two law firms in April 2014 and managed to steal vital info after installing a malware. Then they targeted the email accounts of law firm partners working on Mergers and Acquisitions. After that, they then purchased stocks from the firms who were being sold and made a profit of $4 million on a collective note.
One of the victimized law firms happens to be NY based Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP. The firm signified Pitney Bowes deal in its 2015 acquisition of Borderfree Inc. Other details are awaited!
Thus, all these developments culminate in proving one point. That is, Law Firms in the US are extremely vulnerable to worldwide hackers.
