There are three suspects in the case, including Eugenijus Čiuplevičius, a dentist who has in the past worked at Grožio Chirurgija. The other two suspects are only identified by their initials: A. M., an IT specialist and businessman, and S. V., an IT specialist.
Two of the men were charged with extortion of property and the third was charged with gaining illegal access and unlawful taking of possession of data.
“These persons were charged with obtaining private data of the clinic’s patients from the company’s databases with the aim of taking possession of property of both private individuals and of Grožio Chirurgija, and then extorting property by threatening to make the private data public,” Martynas Jovaiša, chief prosecutor of the Organized Crime and Corruption Investigation Department at the Prosecutor General’s Office, said at a news conference on Friday.
The clinic was demanded to pay 500,000 euros’ worth of bitcoins and its customers were requested to pay between 50 and 800 euros, he said.
Claims for 230,000 euros in non-pecuniary damages have been filed, and pecuniary damages may reach a few thousand euros. Some of the victims are foreign nationals.
The exact amount of much money transferred to the criminals is not known as a part of the victims apparently did not turn to police.
Private records of over 22,000 clients were stolen.
“Almost 100 individuals were recognized as victims and a hundred witnesses were interviewed (…),” Rolandas Kiškis, chief of the Criminal Police Bureau, said.
“Such a large-scale investigation was carried out in a very short period of time. The suspects were detained four months after the launch of the investigation,” he added.