Far from a failed startup, the aptly named Invita turned out to be a bogus company set up by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to ensnare a pair of young Russian hackers accused of breaking into U.S. Internet companies' computers, stealing financial and other sensitive data and demanding extortion payments.. . .
Far from a failed startup, the aptly named Invita turned out to be a bogus company set up by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to ensnare a pair of young Russian hackers accused of breaking into U.S. Internet companies' computers, stealing financial and other sensitive data and demanding extortion payments.

Authorities say Alexey Ivanov, 20, and Vasily Gorshkov, 25, both of Chelyabinsk, fell for the bait. The pair were indicted by a grand jury on 20 criminal counts including conspiracy and wire fraud; a trial is scheduled in for May 29 in Seattle federal court.

The FBI declined to comment because the case is still pending. But in recently unsealed court documents that read like a high-tech spy novel, bureau agents tell how they snagged the alleged computer thieves by creating the shell company and inviting Ivanov and Gorshkov to try to hack into it.