A Russian national who laundered money for online criminals around the world was sentenced Monday in Pittsburgh to time served.

U.S. District Judge Marilyn Horan imposed that term on Maksim Boiko, known in the cyberworld as "gangass," following his guilty plea a year ago.

Boiko's lawyer asked for a downward variance from the sentencing guideline range of two years to 30 months and the judge granted it.

She said the sentence was justified, considering Boiko's background growing up in difficult financial circumstances, his diabetes and the fact that he has a wife and new child, among other factors.

Boiko was among 20 people from Eastern Europe charged in Pittsburgh in an international investigation of a network known as QQAAZZ, an organized crime group that laundered money for cybercriminals in exchange for a cut of what they stole online.

Boiko had originally been charged following the indictment of five Latvians in Pittsburgh, and prosecutors here later indicted 14 other accused conspirators.

U.S. authorities arrested Boiko in Miami after he entered the country in January 2019 with his wife. He was carrying $20,000 in cash and said the money was from Bitcoin investments and rental property in Russia, but FBI agents said it was from his money-laundering operation.

Boiko was directly involved with QQAAZZ from his home in St. Petersburg, Russia, and was closely tied to one of its leaders.

QQAAZZ laundered or tried to launder tens of millions of dollars since 2016 by opening and maintaining corporate and individual accounts at banks around the world to receive money from cybercriminals who stole it from victims' bank accounts.

The money was transferred to QQAAXX-controlled accounts or converted to cryptocurrency, and QQAAZZ members were paid a fee of 40 to 50% of the take.

First Published: December 20, 2021, 3:56 p.m.