in october 2018, an indictment by a u.s. federal grand jury of seven russian men, all gru officers, in relation to the attacks was unsealed. the indictment states that from december 2014 until a least may 2018, the gru officers conspired to conduct "persistent and sophisticated computer intrusions affecting u.s. persons, corporate entities, international organizations, and their respective employees located around the world, based on their strategic interest to the russian government." the u.s. department of justice stated that the conspiracy, among other goals, aimed "to publicize stolen information as part of an influence and disinformation campaign designed to undermine, retaliate against, and otherwise delegitimize" the efforts of the world anti-doping agency, an international anti-doping organization that had published the mclaren report, a report that exposed extensive doping of russian athletes sponsored by the russian government. the defendants were charged with computer hacking, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering.