The case represents the first time the Federal Bureau of Investigation successfully enticed people of high-tech crimes to come to the United States, and its first “extra-territorial seizure of digital evidence,” according to the agency and U.S. Department of Justice.

It is also the first time a U.S. agency has been formally accused of hacking into a foreign computer network, as the FBI downloaded evidence off suspects’ computer networks in Russia, they added.

The federal judge in the case rejected the prosecutor’s request that the hacker, Vasiliy Gorshkov, serve at least 16 years, said defense attorney John Lundin. Gorshkov also was ordered to pay restitution of about $690,000, he said.

Federal District Court Judge John Coughenour said financial and medical problems of Gorshkov’s family in Russia were factors in granting the reduced sentence, according to Lundin.

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