U.S. against Maxim Kovalchuk
By Timofey Saytarly
Date: June 06, 2003
U.S. demands extradition of inhabitant of Ternopol (Ukraine) arrested in Bangkok. They assert that he is one of the most dangerous hackers in the world and has caused 100 million dollars of losses to the leading computer companies in the USA.
Crime-research.org has already informed on arrest of Ukrainian citizen Maxim Kovalchuk. The case has received the international importance. According to the head of the press-service Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Markijan Lubkivskiy, the criminal case on Kovalchuk (Vysochanskiy) is brought to court. Judicial bodies of Thailand will solve the problem of probable ex-tradition Kovalchuk to the U.S. within two months. The Ukrainian embassy in Thailand is kept in touch with Maxim Kovalchuk and is going to provide him with a high-skilled lawyer and translator.
Maxim Kovalchuk has arrived to Thailand under the tourist permission together with his wife under her surname Vysochanskiy and he denies all charges.
Maxim Kovalchuk accused of such "grave" computer financial crime was born in Ternopol, Ukraine. Maxim Kovalchuk graduated form physical and mathematical high school ¹1 as honors student^; then in 1998 he graduated from The Institute of Economy and Management at the Ternopol Academy of National Economy as A-student.
Kovalchuk made no resistance to arresting. The piracy copies of computer programs of "Microsoft", "Autodesk", "Adobe", and «Macromedia" have been found at him. There were proprietary label and inscriptions on some fakes. According to Thai police, approximate cost of withdrawn piracy production makes 3 million dollars.
The American special services have brought Kovalchuk in ten the most dangerous computer pirates of the world.
Computer Crime Research Center
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