(CNN)A Russian businessman was extradited to the US this weekend from Switzerland to face charges in an insider trading scheme worth tens of millions of dollars for allegedly hacking into US computer networks, the Justice Department announced on Monday.
Vladislav Klyushin, owner of M-13, a Russian company that offers media monitoring and cybersecurity services, is charged along with four others for allegedly hacking into large publicly traded US companies to gain access to earning reports and other market moving information before it was public, and then traded stocks based on that nonpublic information.
Acting US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Nathaniel R. Mendell said during a news conference on Monday that this was a “sophisticated and lucrative scheme.”
“They hacked US networks, stole inside information and cheated honest investors, out of millions of dollars,” Mendell said. “The four other suspects remain at large.”
One of Klyushin’s co-defendants, Ivan Ermakov, was one of 12 Russian military officers that a federal grand jury indicted in connection to the Justice Department’s special counsel Robert Mueller investigation into 2016 election interference.
According to the charging documents, Klyushin’s company had Kremlin ties and provided “IT solutions” that were used by the Russian president, federal ministries and departments as well as regional state executive bodies.
Comments are closed.