American hacker, 32, accused of being behind largest-ever attack on JP Morgan is arrested in New York after voluntarily returning from Moscow

Joshua Samuel Aaron was arrested on Wednesday after flying into New York
He is charged with stealing contact information of bank customers in 2014
Aaron is accused of hacking JPMorgan Chase & Co in largest ever bank breach
His co-accused Gery Shalon and Ziv Orenstein were arrested in Israel in 2015
If convicted of the charges, the defendants could face decades in prison

Published: 00:27 GMT, 15 December 2016 | Updated: 15:18 GMT, 15 December 2016

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A U.S. man accused of being behind the largest ever theft of financial data has been arrested at a New York airport after he flew in from Moscow to surrender.

Joshua Samuel Aaron, 32, flew to JFK Airport on Wednesday to face charges he stole contact information for over 100 million customers of U.S. financial institutions, brokerage firms and financial news publishers.

He pleaded not guilty to a 22-count indictment charging him with conspiracy, computer hacking, securities fraud and wire fraud, among other charges.

Joshua Samuel Aaron (pictured) was arrested at New York's JFK Airport on Wednesday after he flew from Moscow to face charges he was behind the largest ever theft of financial data

His lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said Aaron waived extradition and asylum in Russia and voluntarily returned to the United States 'to responsibly address the charges.'

He is accused of hacking JPMorgan Chase & Co to generate hundreds of millions of dollars of illegal profit in the largest bank breach ever.

Thieves took data on more than 83 million JPMorgan Chase & Co customers in 2014.

JPMorgan Chase is the nation's biggest bank by assets.

It comes after two men were arrested in Israel last year after they conspired with Aaron to carry out the theft of customer data.

Gery Shalon and Ziv Orenstein were extradited from Israel in June. They have pleaded not guilty.

Aaron is accused of hacking JPMorgan Chase & Co to generate hundreds of millions of dollars of illegal profit in the largest bank breach ever

His co-accused, Gery Shalon (pictured) and Ziv Orenstein was arrested in Israel last year after conspiring with Aaron to carry out the theft of customer data

Gery Shalon and Ziv Orenstein (pictured) were extradited from Israel in June. They have pleaded not guilty

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Aaron was charged with working to hack into the networks of dozens of American companies.

A Manhattan federal court indictment said some of the massive computer hacks and cyber attacks occurred as the men sought to steal the customer base of competing internet gambling businesses or to secretly review executives' emails in a quest to cripple rivals.

If convicted of the charges, the defendants could face decades in prison.

Aaron pleaded not guilty to the charges during a brief appearance Wednesday before a magistrate judge.

With consent from his defense lawyer, he was scheduled to be held overnight pending another court appearance on Thursday before a district judge.

His lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said Aaron waived extradition and asylum in Russia and voluntarily returned to the United States 'to responsibly address the charges'