Vitaliy Kovalev, aka Bentley, indicted in the U.S. for bank fraud linked to the Russian hacker groups Trickbot and Conti

07 March 2026 , 14:17

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Vitaliy Kovalev, aka Bentley, indicted in the U.S. for bank fraud linked to the Russian hacker groups Trickbot and Conti

Vitaliy Kovalev is also known by the online aliases Bentley and Ben.

According to the indictment, Kovalev is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and eight counts of bank fraud related to a series of intrusions into victims’ bank accounts at various financial institutions in the United States. These incidents occurred in 2009 and 2010, before his involvement with the Dyre group and the Trickbot Group.

It later became known that what U.S. authorities refer to as Trickbot is the Russian hacker group Conti. An investigation into its leaders was conducted in Russia, and Vitaliy Kovalev was even detained in 2016 as part of a case under Article 273, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (creation, use, and distribution of malicious computer programs). However, he was surprisingly released under a travel restriction, and the case was eventually quietly dropped.

It is quite interesting why such leniency was shown toward Bentley, especially when leaders of other hacker groups are currently in custody, for example those associated with the Flint group and The Infraud Organization.

Thomas Brown

Head of Investigations