The owner of Florida‑based ransomware remediation company MonsterCloud has been charged with fraud for allegedly paying ransomware gangs behind his clients’ backs while billing those clients far more than the ransom amounts.
Prosecutors say Zohar Pinhasi, also known as “Zack Silver” and “Zack Green,” charged MonsterCloud customers more than $19 million while secretly paying over $8 million to the cybercriminals who attacked them. According to the indictment, Pinhasi marketed MonsterCloud as a principled alternative to paying ransomware gangs, claiming the company used “advanced decryption techniques and cutting‑edge technology” to recover data without succumbing to extortion. Some testimonials on the company’s website were allegedly provided by paid spokespersons.
The DoJ says MonsterCloud had no proprietary decryption technology. Instead, Pinhasi allegedly contacted the attackers directly, paid for decryption keys, and had employees use those keys to attempt file recovery. Prosecutors say he routinely charged clients far more than the ransom he secretly paid. In one example from August 2023, MonsterCloud paid a cybercriminal approximately $8,200 but billed the victim around $150,000.
In May 2019, a paid spokesperson asked Pinhasi whether MonsterCloud truly had its own decryption software. “Monstercloud doesn’t hold any Proprietary technology [to] decrypt the ransomware data,” he allegedly replied. U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella, Jr. said Pinhasi “re‑victimized his clients while extracting a hefty profit for himself,” while FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle, Jr. stated that Pinhasi never remediated the underlying threat and “turned the victim’s crisis into his own profit center.”
“This deception is unacceptable, and the FBI is committed to ensuring accountability for those who choose to victimize the very people who trusted them for help,” Barnacle added. Pinhasi is charged with two counts of wire fraud and one count of wire fraud conspiracy. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison on each count.
