The parents of an Ancaster, Ont. man charged in connection with a massive Yahoo data breach say their son is “staying brave” while in jail ahead of Wednesday’s bail hearing.
Akhmet and Dinara Tokbergenov maintain that their son, 22-year-old Karim Baratov, played no role in in the massive data breach of more than 500 million Yahoo email accounts.
Baratov was arrested three weeks ago today at his home in Ancaster after U.S. authorities pinned the hacking on him and three alleged Russian spies.
All four were indicted for computer hacking, economic espionage and other crimes.
Sitting inside their home Monday afternoon, Baratov’s mother and father told CTV News Toronto that their son is trying to stay positive while in jail.
“You can imagine how confused a young man being re-placed from a nice home and family to a place like jail. Jail is jail in every country. From his eyes, I understand that doesn’t want to show us… He wants to be brave,” Akhmet Tokbergenov said.
“He says he’s okay, that he likes the food and that he has friends in there… But we’ve seen from his eyes that he’s very sad. Very upset,” his mother added.
U.S. authorities allege Baratov advertised himself as a “hacker-for-hire” online and was allegedly paid by the Russian Federal Security Service for his services.
But his parents maintain that Baratov ran what they call a “legitimate business” creating websites to support himself.
“All we know is that he owns a sever business and builds websites. He was running his official business. He paid income taxes. I know that as a fact,” his father said.
When shown a website allegedly connected to Baratov’s services, the Tokbergenovs both shook their head.
“I’ve never seen that site, never,” he said. “No comment.”
“He told me he didn’t know those three men from Russia,” she said. “His eyes were wide. He said, ‘Mom I don’t know them. I don’t know those three people who are implicated.’”
Baratov was indicted along with 33-year-old Aleksandrovich Dokuchaev, 43-year-old Igor Anatolyevich Sushchin and 29-year-old Alexsey Alexseyevich (Magg) Belan – all Russian nationals and residents.
U.S. authorities have previously described them as Russian intelligence agents who allegedly planned and led the email hacks.
If he is successfully extradited to the U.S. and convicted, Baratov faces as many as 29.5 years in prison.
Having moved from Kazakhstan to Canada when Baratov and his sister were very young, his parents admit that the vocabulary involved with legal matters has confused them. Despite this, they tell CTV News Toronto that they will remain resilient in standing by their son.
Though his now-deleted social media accounts portrayed a man with an extravagant lifestyle full of expensive sports cars and money, Baratov’s parents say the depiction isn’t accurate.
“What I can tell you, it’s not a secret – those cars have a huge loan (on them) and that house has a huge mortgage. It’s not about wealth. As with every Canadian, they pay loans and mortgage,” his father said.
The family says they were upset by how their son was painted in the media and decided to speak out in hopes of illustrating the son they knew Baratov to be – a “kind person” with a sense of humor and devotion to his family.
His mother describes him as the “scapegoat” in the overall case.
“Imagine, today you are perfectly happy with your life, creating a plan for next year or even just for the next day. And then, the next day, the next minute, you feel like death,” he said of his son’s arrest.
“Sometimes in the morning I don’t even want to wake up and think about it. I understand I have to be strong and to help our son to return home, to help him protect himself in Canada.”
Tokbergenov said the day of Baratov’s arrest, it was a snow day. He said he drove around the corner to Baratov’s house that morning with the intention of surprising his son with a freshly shoveled driveway.
But when he pulled up to the home, the area was surrounded by police.
“They didn’t allow me to come or to approach. I was sitting in my car and then I saw Karim was removed from the house in cuffs. That was the worst day of my life,” he said.
“I was so bewildered I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t catch my breath,” Dinara Tokbergenov said of the moment her husband told her the news.
“It’s so heartbreaking. From the beginning, I couldn’t believe that it was true. We were shocked. We were depressed, we couldn’t eat or sleep, we couldn’t do anything. Our life is destroyed.”
“I didn’t come to Canada to see that picture,” her husband added. “No.”
But is he a hacker?
Akhmet Tokbergenov, again, maintains his son’s innocence.
“That has to be proven in court. But according to me, no,” he said.
“He’s not the right person, trust me."
