Canada court denies accused Yahoo hacker bail

A Canadian court on Tuesday denied bail to a man accused of carrying out devastating cyberattacks on Yahoo as he awaits possible extradition to the United States to face criminal charges.

Karim Baratov, 22, an immigrant from Kazakhstan, was arrested on a US warrant in March for alleged hacking, commercial espionage and related crimes.

His lawyers said they will fight the extradition request. A hearing could begin as early as June and the process of deciding whether to extradite Baratov is expected to last up to three years.

US authorities alleged Russian intelligence agents hired Baratov and another hacker to carry out attacks on Yahoo from 2014 to 2016.

The data breach compromised 500 million Yahoo accounts and is one of the largest cyberattacks in history. Targets included Russian and US government officials, cyber security, diplomatic and military personnel, journalists, companies and financial firms.

Baratov’s lawyers had asked that he be remanded into his parents’ custody. His father vowed strict supervision at home, telling the court: “Jail would look like paradise.”

But prosecutors said Baratov has ties to foreign spies and posed a flight risk, noting that one of his co-accused in the case fled to Russia.