DARKMARK

After Vega arrived in Brooklyn, the Secret Service offered him a deal: if he were to testify against Dimitry Golubov and other members of Ukraine's establishment (not hackers, but senior political figures), then they would drop the charges. But if he refused, they would bring further charges against him filed in different states of the Union. They would continue until he agreed to cooperate.

Regardless of what Vega has or has not done, he has already spent three times longer in jail than those sentenced for their activity in Shadowcrew, with two unresolved cases still hanging over him and the threat of more in the wings. Vega has been suffering from advanced dental decay for several years and is in constant pain, often unable to eat properly. He has been refused medical assistance by the Bureau of Prisons and the US Marshall Service.

There is no prospect of Vega being released in the foreseeable future.

Maksym Kovalchuk, aka Blade

Kovalchuk was arrested in May 2003 in Thailand and extradited to the United States, where he served four years in jail. The FBI consented to a negotiated plea agreement and he was released in late 2007, after which he returned to anonymity in the Ukraine. The FBI's decision to release him contrasts starkly with the Secret Service's tactic of holding onto Roman Vega.

Renukanth Subramaniam, aka JiLsi

On 26th February 2010 Subramaniam pleaded guilty to one charge of credit-card fraud and four charges of mortgage fraud, for which the judge at Blackfriars Crown Court sentenced him to four years' imprisonment. At the time of writing he is an inmate at West London's Wormwood Scrubs prison, whose alumni include the composer Sir Michael Tippett and the Rolling Stones guitarist, Keith Richards.

With time off for good behaviour, Subramaniam is expected to be released in late July 2012. The bulk of his case relates not to DarkMarket but to mortgage fraud. The prosecution included five such instances (although three of these applications were turned down by the financial institutions). While mortgage fraud is a crime in its own right, the prosecution suggested a link between Subramaniam's earnings from