Former eSports team manager charged in hacking conspiracy

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Dmitry 'ddd1ms' Smilianets, the former leader of the pro team Moscow 5, has been officially charged with a computer hacking conspiracy and conspiracy to commit wire fraud along with three other Russians and a Ukrainian. According to the U.S. government, Smilianets and company stole and sold more than 160 million credit and debit card numbers.

Smilianets was actually arrested last July, but will supposedly appear in U.S. federal court sometime next week. The U.S. government said Smilianets' job was to help sell the credit and debit card numbers the group had illicitly obtained. Smilianets' lawyer, Bruce Provda, expects the case to be a long one.

“It's a rather complex international charge of hacking,” Provda told AP . “If it goes to trial, it's going to be a lengthy trial.”

Moscow 5, which was best known for competing in League of Legends, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike, shut down following Smilianets' arrest due to a severe lack of funding.

I doubt this case will shine a particularly negative light on eSports as a whole, considering Smilianets' alleged role in the crime group doesn't seem connected to his former job at Moscow 5, though that probably doesn't provide much consolation to the millions of people who had their credit card numbers stolen.

Thanks, GameSpot .

Image via moscowfive.ru