The Georgia-born Israeli Gery Shalon has been a prominent figure in the world of cybercrime, especially after being labeled as the alleged mastermind behind some of the most significant hacks on the US financial system in the early 2010s. Shalon was also the mastermind behind Gal Barak‘s cybercrime organization. He allegedly made a deal with the U.S. prosecution and snitched on his former partners.
US Indictment And Plea Deal
Shalon was extradited from Israel in 2015 and accused of running one of the largest thefts of financial-related data in history.” He faced 23 counts and potentially decades in prison, accused of running a scheme that pilfered client information from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and other companies. He was also accused of running online gambling, stock manipulation, and global money-laundering operations.
Gery Shalon, a/k/a “Garri Shalelashvili,” a/k/a “Gabriel,” a/k/a “Gabi,” a/k/a “Phillipe Mousset,” a/k/a “Christopher Engeham”; Joshua Samuel Aaron, a/k/a “Mike Shields”; Ziv Orenstein, a/k/a “Aviv Stein,” a/k/a “John Avery,” and Andrei Tyurin were indicted by a US grand jury in 2015.
Shalon pled guilty in 2017 in a “sealed courtroom” in return for a significantly more lenient sentence than his co-conspirators. The plea deal included his agreement to forfeit more than $400 million (see signed .
Read more about the Gery Shalon plea deal here on FinTelegram.
Snitching On Russian Co-Conspirators
In 2018, the Russian citizen Andrei Tyurin was arrested in the Republic of Georgia and extradited to the U.S. last year, facing hefty fines. He was pleading guilty to charges that he stole data on more than 80 million clients of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and other institutions that netted hundreds of millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains. Tyurin was one of the accomplices of the Israeli Gery “Gabi” Shalon. He was sentenced in Manhattan federal court to 144 months in prison.
At the time of Tyurin’s arrest in Georgia and his extradition to the U.S., Gery Shalon‘s father, Shota Shalelashvili, was a member of parliament and deputy leader of the ruling party in Georgia.
Whistleblower In The Rodeler And Hoch Capital Case
We have heard from insiders in German law enforcement agencies that Shalon is believed to be the key whistleblower who gave the German authorities information that brought down the CYSEC-regulated Rodeler Group and its broker brand Option24 as well as the also CySEC-regulated Hoch Capital Ltd with its brands iTrader and TradeATF. Israeli compatriots of Shalon operated both systems out of Cyprus. The German law enforcement agents received the tips anonymously via an IP address in New York associated with Shalon. In the summer of 2020, Rodeler and Hoch Capital had to “voluntarily” resign their CySEC licenses.
Read our report on Rodeler and Hoch Capital here.
In Germany, authorities are still investigating the operators behind Rodeler and Hoch Capital to this day. There have been several convictions of Rodeler scheme lieutenants in Germany so far.
Reportedly, the prosecutor in charge of Gal Barak in Germany, Nino Goldbeck, is said to be conducting investigations into Shalon and his role in Barak’s cybercrime organization. Barak is expected to be indicted in Germany before the end of this year. He lost the appeal at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) (report here). Whether there will also be an indictment against Shalon is currently unknown.
Gal Barak was sentenced in September 2020 to several years in prison and millions in restitution payments for investment fraud and money laundering in Austria. An indictment against Barak is still pending in Germany. Some of his lieutenants have been sentenced to long prison terms in Germany.
Shalon Is Too Big For Israel
After apparently betraying all accomplices and acquaintances as part of the plea deal with prosecutors, Shalon was released from U.S. custody, probably also using his father’s political connections. After being released from US custody under mysterious circumstances, Gery Shalon returned to Israel, as confirmed by his father. This move came two years after he was allowed to leave US custody. The exact reasons for his return remain speculative, but his father’s statement suggests that Shalon felt more at home in Israel.
Read more about the Shalelashvili clan here.
Shota Shalelashvili told Bloomberg that his son left the US after being released in 2021. However, Shalon plans to return to America, believing his “skills are too big for Israel.” This statement hints at Shalon’s confidence in his abilities and potential future US endeavors. Source: The Times of Israel.
Conclusion
Gery Shalon‘s journey from being an alleged cybercrime mastermind to facing charges and eventually returning to Israel is filled with twists and turns. His story serves as a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities in the financial sector and the need for robust cybersecurity measures. As the world awaits more updates on Shalon’s next moves, his past actions continue to be a topic of discussion and analysis in cybersecurity circles.
Share Information
If you have any information about Gery Shalon, Gal Barak, their network, and activities, please share it with us through our whistleblower network Whistle42.
