By Jonathan Stempel
Jan 20 (Reuters) - A trader from an Atlanta suburb admittedto involvement in what U.S. authorities have called a more than$100 million international insider trading scheme that involvedhacking into networks that distribute corporate news releases.
Igor Dubovoy, 28, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one countof conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to U.S. AttorneyPaul Fishman in New Jersey.
Dubovoy, of Alpharetta, Georgia, became the second defendantto admit criminal wrongdoing related to the alleged theft fromFebruary 2010 to August 2015 of more than 150,000 press releasesfrom Business Wire, MarketWired and PR Newswire.
The defendant entered his plea before U.S. District JudgeMadeline Cox Arleo in Newark, New Jersey. He faces up to 20years in prison, and according to his plea agreement agreed tomake $3 million of restitution to the newswires.
Another trader from Alpharetta, Alexander Garkusha, pleadedguilty last month in Brooklyn, New York federal court to thesame charge as Dubovoy.
Seven other individuals, including accused hackers fromUkraine, also face criminal charges, and 34 defendants facerelated U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil charges.
Lawrence Lustberg, a lawyer for Dubovoy, declined tocomment.
Authorities said traders would give hackers "shopping lists"of press releases they wanted to see in advance, and then madetrades based on them in such companies as Caterpillar Inc, Home Depot Co and Panera Bread Co.
Prosecutors said Dubovoy admitted to buying stolen pressreleases that he knew contained non-public earnings data forpublicly traded companies, and that he made trades based ontheir contents after sending them to another trader to review.
Business Wire is a unit of Warren Buffett's BerkshireHathaway Inc. PR Newswire is a unit of Britain's UBMPlc, which last month said it will sell the unit toChicago-based Cision.
None of the newswires was accused of wrongdoing.
The case is U.S. v. Dubovoy, U.S. District Court, Districtof New Jersey, No. 15-cr-00390. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by AlanCrosby)