Morocco extradites French cybercrime suspect to US: police source – People

Morocco on Wednesday extradited to the United States a French national wanted for a string of alleged cybercrimes, a Moroccan police source told AFP.

Sebastien Raoult was put on a flight from Casablanca to New York, the source said on condition of anonymity.

“The operation was carried out by FBI agents,” the source added.

Raoult is suspected by the FBI of “conspiracy to commit electronic fraud and abuse”, “serious identity theft” and of belonging to the ShinyHunters hacking group which has allegedly targeted US companies including Microsoft.

The 21-year-old Frenchman could face 116 years in prison in the United States over the charges, according to his lawyer Philippe Ohayon.

Raoult, a former IT student from Epinal in eastern France, was arrested in Morocco in May last year on the basis of an Interpol red notice.

Red notices ask member countries to provisionally detain people pending possible extradition or other legal action.

Ohayon had raised Raoult’s case with the United Nations’ Committee Against Torture, but the body declined to intervene.

French foreign ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre said Wednesday that Raoult’s extradition was “a matter of sovereign relations between Morocco and the United States”.