Six questions on the risk of extradition of Frenchman Sébastien Raoult, suspected by the United States of cybercrime

The sentence is getting closer for Sébastien Raoult. The Moroccan Court of Cassation rendered, Monday, August 8, a “favorable opinion” the extradition of the young 21-year-old Frenchman who has been imprisoned for two months in the country, at the request of the American authorities. According to The Obs, who revealed the case on July 28 (paid item), the FBI (US Federal Bureau of Investigation) suspects the young man of being a member of a group of hackers accused of being “prolific cybercriminals” by US authorities. If extradited to the United States, he faces a sentence of more than 110 years in prison.

1What happened to Sebastien Raoult?

On May 31, Sébastien Raoult was arrested at Morocco’s Rabat-Salé airport. That day, it was his friends, who were waiting for him at the arrival of the flight at Brussels airport, who informed his father of his disappearance, not seeing him get off the plane, reports The Obs.

Today, it has been more than two months since the young Frenchman has been imprisoned in a prison near Rabat. Paul Raoult says that his son had gone to Morocco to breathe. “He was in a phase of rupture with studies. He wanted to live, to discover the world and to travel and had the impression of wasting his time at school”he explained to AFP.

Before leaving for Morocco, the young Frenchman lived in Epinal (Vosges) with his parents. He was in his second year of computer studies in Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle) before stopping his training last December. Passionate about this field since childhood, he wanted to work in the field of computer security, according to his father, interviewed by The Parisian (paid item)July 29.

2What is he suspected of?

According to the Moroccan police, the young Frenchman was the subject of a red notice (request addressed to authorities around the world and involving the immediate arrest of an individual pending extradition) issued by Interpol at the request of American justice. , in a case of cyberpiracy against companies, American in particular.

The FBI suspects Sébastien Raoult of being part of the “ShinyHunters” group, whose name was chosen in reference to the Pokémon universe. The American authorities of the State of Washington, in the west of the country, demand his extradition for acts of “conspiracy to commit electronic fraud and abuse”, “electronic fraud” and “serious identity theft”according the American indictment transmitted to Morocco and consulted by AFP.

The text reports that last March, Github, one of the companies that would have been targeted by these cyberattacks, would have provided information to the FBI on IP addresses attributed to Sébastien Raoult in France and Morocco. The young Frenchman risks up to 116 years in prison in the United States for the facts attributed to him, according to his lawyer, Philippe Ohayon.

3What group are we talking about?

The group of hackers “ShinyHunters”, which appeared in the spring of 2020, as the weekly recalls, had caused a stir by selling nearly 200 million stolen data on the darknet (part of the internet network accessible by software that anonymizes user data) for nearly 200,000 dollars (about 196,000 euros).

For this, the hackers broke into the computer systems of several companies and also demanded ransoms from their targets. Several large American groups such as Microsoft, the clothing brand Bonobo or AT&T, the number two in American telecoms, are concerned.

In this case, four other French people suspected of belonging to the same group have been interviewed by the French authorities, according to information gathered by the weekly. A request for mutual criminal assistance was sent by the United States to France in the summer of 2021 about the “ShinyHunters”, a source familiar with the matter told AFP.

4What has Morocco decided, where the young Frenchman is detained?

The Court of Cassation of Morocco pronounced on Monday a “favorable opinion” to the extradition to the United States of Sébastien Raoult, according to an official document consulted by franceinfo, confirming comments by AFP.

To justify its decision rendered on Wednesday July 20, the highest court in the country explains that the request for extradition was presented by the United States “within the period provided for by law”. She also specifies that the “crimes” for which it is claimed by the Americans “have their equivalents in the Moroccan Penal Code”. “The extradition request fulfills all the conditions required by law”, affirms the decision.

This “favorable opinion” is not a final decision. In this sense, the Moroccan court has not, for the time being, “not ordered” the extradition of the young Frenchman. Extradition itself can only be decided “by the Prime Minister on the proposal of a commission also bringing together the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Justice”explained a source familiar with the matter to AFP.

5What does his entourage say?

Since the beginning of the case, the entourage of Sébastien Raoult proclaims the innocence of the young Frenchman. Interviewed by France 3 at the end of JulyPaul Raoult said he was convinced of the innocence of his son. “I don’t see him doing that at all”, he said. According to him, the young man denies the facts: “He (…) claims that his accounts were used without his knowledge”he explains to The Obs.

When Morocco’s extradition authorization was announced, the Frenchman’s lawyer, Philippe Ohayon, recalled his “determination to obtain extradition” of his client “in France”. The suspect’s father has sent an open letter to President Emmanuel Macron on Fridayso that he may come to his aid, before turning to another letter to Eric Dupond-Moretti, Minister of Justice. This letter was posted on his Facebook account on Saturday. He asks the Keeper of the Seals that an investigation by the General Inspectorate of Justice be opened.

“We believe that Sébastien Raoult was not simply abandoned by France, he was sacrificed”, says the Frenchman’s lawyer. The same day as the arrest of Sébastien Raoult in Morocco, “the Franco-American police operation of May 31” allowed to arrest in France “five other people in this case”emphasizes Philippe Ohayon.

Asked about RTL on Tuesday, Paul Raoult once again expressed his dismay: “We are in a denial of justice by France which abandons one of its nationalshe said. Make no mistake today, my son is a victim of France letting him go to America, who arranges for him not to return to France.”

6What can the French State do in this situation?

Questioned on August 3 on BFMTV, the Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, affirmed that French justice “did not have the possibility, at this stage, to intervene”. For lawyer Dilbadi Gasimov, contacted by franceinfo, the French State cannot ask the Moroccan authorities that the French national be handed over to them, “unless legal proceedings are underway in France, but that does not seem to be the case”he says.

As such, theSébastien Raoult’s lawyer reacted to AFP when the Moroccan court issued its opinion, reiterating its request for the opening of a judicial investigation in France, accompanied by a French arrest warrant to obtain extradition from his client to France.

At present, France could “at the limit intervene through his diplomats to support the young detainee on the spotexplains Dilbaldi Gasimov. But it can neither influence nor have any weight on the final extradition decision.” For his part, theMonday on LCI, the spokeswoman for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Anne-Claire Legendre, said she understood “obviously his father’s concern” and “do everything (…) to provide him with all the consular protection that we can”. Without deciding on the possibility of extraditing him to France.