French youth imprisoned in Morocco faces 116 years in US prison for cybercrime

This former computer science student at the Epitech school in Nancy dropped out to travel the world. On June 1, when his three-month tourist visa expired, he was arrested by Moroccan police at the request of the Washington State Attorney in the United States.

The FBI suspects the 20-year-old of being one of the leading members of the ShinyHunter hacker group, criminal hackers involved in numerous corporate data leaks. It is known that this stolen information is then sold on the dark web.

Among the major companies-victims are mentioned: Microsoft or the Korean giant SocialShare. He is being prosecuted by US justice, which seeks his extradition for acts of “electronic fraud”, “serious identity theft” or “conspiracy to commit electronic fraud and abuse.”

According to our colleagues at L’Obs, an FBI investigation would reveal offenses committed from French IP addresses and, more recently, from Moroccan ones. Everything will lead to Sebastian Raul. The American police would also have at their disposal the young man’s conversations on the platforms in which he would mention the hacks mentioned.

The defendant denies all charges and asks to be tried in France.

His father, Paul, claims that his son’s identity has been usurped and is fighting to open an investigation as well as extradite him to France, where the alleged facts are believed to have taken place. In the US, a young man is sentenced to 116 years in prison against five in France for similar actions.

Locked in a cell with seven other prisoners, Sebastian Raul awaits the date of his second hearing in Morocco.