Mueller flips American who unwittingly sold bank info to Russian trolls

Enlarge (credit: Richard Pinedo)

On Friday, shortly after Department of Justice officials announced the indictment of 13 Russians accused of being involved in a multi-year effort to spread false information online surrounding the 2016 presidential campaign, the DOJ also announced the guilty plea of a California man, Richard "Ricky" Pinedo.

The Californian, who did not respond to Ars' attempts to contact him, admitted selling bank information to the Russians accused of being part of the criminal conspiracy.

Pinedo-28, of Santa Paula, California northwest of Los Angeles-ran a website called Auction Essistance. That site appears to have been in operation for at least a few years, and it offered "services that will enable you to get back onto eBay or Amazon ranging from pre-made eBay & Paypal accounts or verification tools."

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