A Russian Trader Close to the Kremlin Sentenced to 9 Years in Prison in the U.S.

A Russian trader connected to the Kremlin was sentenced to 9 years in prison in the U.S. on Thursday, September 7, after being convicted of participating in a $93 million insider trading scheme involving confidential information from hacked earnings reports of several companies. Vladislav Klyushin, owner of an IT company based in Moscow called 'M-13' that worked for the Russian government, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Patti Saris in Boston after a jury found him guilty in February. Hackers accessed and downloaded undisclosed earnings reports of hundreds of companies, including Tesla and Microsoft, from 2018 to 2020. According to prosecutors, Klyushin and others used this information for trading and profit before the official reports were released. Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth Kosto stated during the sentencing that the defendant's substantial profits came at the expense of other investors, causing real harm to U.S. economic markets. The prosecution sought a 14-year sentence, but the judge deemed 9 years appropriate for an international crime that caused significant damage to the U.S. economy. Klyushin, 42, is one of the most prominent Russians detained in the U.S. American officials had long monitored his connections to the Kremlin. Maxim Nemtsov, Klyushin's lawyer, responded to reporters after the sentencing regarding whether his client would be a good candidate for a prisoner swap with Russia, stating he had no specific information but that he could 'potentially' be a suitable option. According to prosecutors, M-13 not only worked for Putin's government but also employed Ivan Ermakov, a former Russian military intelligence officer, who is wanted by the U.S. for alleged involvement in hacking schemes aimed at interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Ermakov, along with Klyushin and three other Russian nationals, were charged with executing the hacking and trading scheme, but only Klyushin has been tried after being arrested in Switzerland in 2021 and extradited to the U.S. He plans to appeal the sentence against him. This article is based on a report by Reuters.