These excuses are really just too much. If you don't want to be extradited to the United States, you have two ways to prevent it: (1) don't commit crimes against citizens of that country; (2) commit your crimes from a country that doesn't have an extradition treaty -- I hear Russia even encourages anti-American crime within its borders. Or at the very least plan on making your way to such a country afterward once you have the money. Instead these guys stuck around arrogantly assuming they wouldn't get caught and rather than accepting the consequences are making assertions that are impossible to disprove to take advantage of softhearted judges. Prison sucks anywhere; that's the point of it, but if you really believe US prisons are so much worse, why steal from Americans? Don't be stupid, and don't expect any sympathy for it.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
