national charged in Finnish psychotherapy center extortion therecord.media/finland-v…

Finnish prosecutors have charged a second individual — U.S. national Daniel Lee Newhard — with attempted extortion of the Vastaamo psychotherapy center. The Finnish Prosecution Service announced on Monday it had charged Newhard with aiding and abetting attempted aggravated extortion. It said the suspect, a 28-year-old, denies the offense. Officials did not specify if he was in custody.

It follows Aleksanteri Kivimäki, the Finnish cybercriminal convicted of more than 20,000 counts of attempted extortion over the Vastaamo incident, being released from custody last week as he appeals his case.

While Kivimäki is the primary suspect, earlier this year, the National Bureau of Investigation said it was also probing the suspected involvement of a resident of Estonia who was believed to have been involved in the extortion targeting the psychotherapy center, as well as the dissemination of its client information on the internet.