Zee/"ryanc" has indeed been involved in things like these for many years. HTP (Linode + much more) is just a small part of it.
I'm also very surprised it's taken this long for him to be arrested. He's completely brazen and has committed countless crimes despite knowing full well the general public and law enforcement know exactly who he is.
And if he truly was/is involved in carding, he probably won't get out for a while. I can hold some respect for blackhat groups, and hell, even a tiny, miniscule bit of respect for script kiddies like Lizard Squad, but once they get into financial fraud and theft my sympathy is gone.
Just because someone knows who I am does not mean that'll matter when it comes to proving things in court, which in real life isn't as easy as one might imagine.
Well, I live in a country that will not extradite it's own citizens. And even if I somehow did manage to get extradited the US has a legal system where you'd actually have to prove a persons guilt, not just speculate it based on some IRC log of dubious origin.
That's a popular view, but I don't think that in real life it's an entirely correct one. At the very least those with money tend to be able to have a fair trial in the US.
I think you'd be facing the choice between a trial with a 500 year prison charge plus millions in damages and lawyer costs or accepting 10 to 15 years in prison avoiding the trial.
I hope you have lots of money to guarantee a fair trial, but anyway, I'd strongly suggest you to never ever travel anywhere near the US for the rest of your life.
I'm also very surprised it's taken this long for him to be arrested. He's completely brazen and has committed countless crimes despite knowing full well the general public and law enforcement know exactly who he is.
And if he truly was/is involved in carding, he probably won't get out for a while. I can hold some respect for blackhat groups, and hell, even a tiny, miniscule bit of respect for script kiddies like Lizard Squad, but once they get into financial fraud and theft my sympathy is gone.