A Ukrainian lawyer who coded malware for the Conti ransomware gang has been sentenced to four years in a US prison.
Oleksii Oleksiyovych Lytvynenko, 44, pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He was arrested in Ireland in July 2023, where he lived with temporary protective status, and extradited to the United States in late 2025. Prosecutors said he was asleep within arm’s reach of a laptop running Cobalt Strike.
At his plea, Lytvynenko admitted joining Conti in September 2021 under the handle “henry”. He worked as both an intruder and a developer, helped build a malware loader, and held stolen data on 12 victims, eight of them US-based. The Justice Department said he stayed active in ransomware even after Conti shut down.
Conti extorted victims in more than 30 countries and took in at least $150M in ransom. Prosecutors tied Lytvynenko to about $634,000 in Bitcoin extorted from two Tennessee victims, including a government entity whose sheriff’s office, EMS, and police systems were compromised.
The sentence builds on earlier wins. A Latvian negotiator tied to Karakurt got 8.5 years, and the Belarusian creator of Ransom Cartel drew 16 years. Four alleged Conti co-conspirators were indicted in 2023.
