Vladislav Klyushin, a Russian national, was extradited yesterday from Switzerland to the US to face insider-trading scheme. US attorneys announce formal charges today, by noting he has "extensive ties to the office of the president of the Russian Federation."
US authorities say one of the 4 others facing related charges is one of Klyushin’s senior employees: Ivan Yermakov, who was among the 12 alleged GRU operatives charged by Robert Mueller over the U.S. election hacking.
Yermakov:
the criminal complaint/indictment (which is even more interesting):
This statement just issued from Klyushin's Swiss lawyer:
it's hard to say with certainty, but from this FBI probable cause affidavit, it appears the FBI hacked/accessed Klyushin's phone-- with all its messages and photos. (tho' it's possible it could've been a different platform/technology)
other US filings say that the images, photos and docs seized by the FBI were all "lawfully obtained"-- including this photo that purportedly shows Klyushin (R) and Yermakov (L) and that the two allegedly had a "close personal relationship."
another "lawfully obtained" photo submitted to court by the FBI includes this one. Klyushin is identified (purportedly) as second from the left. Yermakov is second from the right.
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Vladimir Gusinsky was once one of Russia’s most influential oligarchs. In recent years, he’s been tangled in lawsuits, debt disputes, and legal fights. He’s also drawn scrutiny from the FBI for, among other things, his ties to former FBI special agent Charles McGonigal. 🧵👇
Gusinsky socialized w/ McGonigal; he dined at Gusinsky’s Greenwich, Ct., mansion twice. The two were introduced by Sergei Shestakov, an ex-Russian diplomat who worked as a U.S. court interpreter and ALSO worked for Gusinsky. (Shestakov regularly attended Gusinsky’s birthdays.)
McGonigal and Shestakov were charged in Jan. 2023 with trying to help another oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, evade U.S. sanctions. A month prior, the FBI visited Gusinsky’s Greenwich home, and questioned his wife about the relationships. Gusinsky was not there at the time.
A grocery store (or cafe) in the village of Hroza, near Kupyansk in northeast Ukraine, was hit by shelling today; at least 48 people were killed, according to @ZelenskyyUa.
fascinating, granular details in this FBI affidavit unsealed last night about a Russian intel agent who created a false Brazilian identity, enrolled at @SAISHopkins, tried to get a @IntlCrimCourt internship, and is now in jail in Brazil (awaiting extradition)
When Brazilian police last year arrested the guy, Sergey Cherkasov, he had "multiple electronic devices"-- thumb drives, cell phones. They found a dead drop in Rio for comms equipment, all of which was turned over to the FBI. (sure seems like some super bad spycraft ops)
According to the FBI, Cherkasov (allegedly) spent a decade building this elaborate identity in Brazil about "Victor Ferreira," incl. a fake birth certificate, a backstory about a fictitious mother, a Portuguese aunt, and a story to explain why he didn't like fish.
.@tv2danmark adds new details to the Nord Stream investigation. For still unexplained reasons, Greek tanker Minerva Julie drifted over the explosions site, with its engine on/off, in early Sept. 2022, then continued on to St. Petersburg. Two weeks later, the blast was reported.
The @WSJ and @derspiegel earlier added new details about a yacht named Andromeda that German prosecutors believe is linked to the blasts. The yacht was rented in mid Sept. by a group of people, some of whom carried Ukrainian passports. wsj.com/articles/inves…@bopanc
Now opening in Boston federal courthouse (literally this hour): opening statements in the trial of Russian businessman Vladislav Klyushin, arrested in Switzerland in March 2021, and extradited some months later on a U.S. arrest warrant.
U.S. prosecutors have charged him and several co-conspirators with (essentially) hacking and insider trading. Klyushin has pleaded not guilty. He’s been sitting in a Massachusetts cell since arriving in the U.S., after a judge denied bail, deeming him a flight risk.
Klyushin owns/owned a company called M13, which provided media monitoring services to the Kremlin and other cybersecurity services. The company is reportedly close to Alexei Gromov, first deputy minister in the presidential administration and kind of a Kremlin media handler