A 19‑year‑old dual national has been arrested for alleged involvement in the Scattered Spider hacking group, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Peter Stokes, born in 2007, was detained in Finland in April following an Interpol Red Notice and extradited to the United States.
He is charged with computer intrusion, conspiracy and fraud after a multi‑year investigation by U.S. authorities.
Scattered Spider has claimed responsibility for cyber‑attacks that generated more than $100 million in ransom payments, according to the DoJ.
The three charges were announced after two young men pleaded guilty to penalties tied to a £39 million 2024 attack on Transport for London that the UK National Crime Agency attributed to the same group.
Stokes, who holds U.S. and Estonian passports, appeared in federal court in Chicago on Tuesday and has been ordered to remain in custody.
The complaint alleges that Stokes and other co‑conspirators demanded about $8 million in cryptocurrency from a luxury jewellery retailer after compromising its data last year.
Although the company did not pay the ransom, it endured losses of at least $2 million due to business disruption and the cost of securing its systems.
The FBI teams operating in Copenhagen and Chicago, together with Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation, carried out the arrest and extradition.
Investigators noted that the group’s members are thought to be young, native English speakers from the United States and the United Kingdom.
