The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday that Yaroslav Vasinskyi, a Ukrainian man charged with severe ransomware attacks against the US, made a court appearance on Wednesday after he was extradited back to the US on March 3.

Vasinskyi was taken into custody in Poland, where he was held by authorities pending proceedings in connection with his requested extradition to the US. Vasinskyi made a court appearance on Wednesday in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas. He was charged with conspiracy to commit fraud, damage to protected computers, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Vasinskyi was indicted in 2021 for accessing the internal computer networks of several companies and deploying Sodinokibi/REvil ransomware to encrypt the data on the company computers. He was also accused of carrying out the attack against Kaseya, a multinational information technology software.

Attorney General Garland said that cybercrime is a serious threat to the US. He stated: “The United States, along with our allies, will do everything in our power to identify the perpetrators of ransomware attacks, to bring them to justice, and to recover the funds they have stolen from their victims.” Deputy Attorney General Monaco added that the DOJ plans to continue to dismantle ransomware groups and “disrupt the cybercriminal ecosystem that allows ransomware to exist and to threaten all of us.”

If convicted on all counts, Vasinskyi faces a penalty of up to 115 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine his sentence.