The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] announced Thursday that it has indicted [indictment, PDF] 12 Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) officers for hacking the emails of employees and volunteers of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, including that of campaign chairman John Podesta.
indictment, approved by Special Prosecute Robert Mueller, charged the officers with conspiracy to commit an offense against the US, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to launder money.
The indictment says that the officers created a fake security alert email from Google that instructed recipients to change their passwords on a GRU- website, thereby giving the officers access to the recipients’ passwords as well as exploited security vulnerabilities on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democratic National Committee’s computer networks.
This is just one of several indictments issued in the Mueller probe. Last month prosecutors charged [JURIST report] Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort with obstruction of justice, his third indictment. In February, 13 Russians were charged [indictment, PDF] with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in connection with the creation of anti-Clinton political ads.
