Enlarge (credit: Richard Pinedo) On Friday, shortly after Department of Justice officials announced the indictment of 13 Russians accused of being involved in a multi-year effort to spread false information online surrounding the 2016 presidential campaign, the DOJ also announced the guilty plea of a California man, Richard "Ricky" Pinedo. The Californian, who did not respond to Ars’ attempts to contact him, admitted selling bank information to the Russians accused of being part of the criminal conspiracy. Pinedo—28, of Santa Paula, California northwest of Los Angeles—ran a website called Auction Essistance.