US bags Russian accused of bagging millions after stealing pre-release financial filings The US Attorney's Office of Massachusetts on Monday announced the extradition of Vladislav Klyushin, a Russian business executive with ties to the Kremlin, on charges of hacking US computer networks and committing securities fraud by trading on undisclosed financial data. Klyushin, 41, a resident of Moscow, Russia, was …
The allegations are pretty specific. But there might an issue with whether his actions were illegal in Russia vs Feraldom; I do not know. But having watched Feraldom prosecutors (persecutors?) in action minor details like that will not phase them in getting a scalp and they love collecting scalps.
AYL has a point. I'm in the US. If I hack a few computers in Russia from the US and use the data to trade on the Moscow Stock Exchange from the US, is that even a crime in the US? What crime? A felony? Or a misdemeanor? If Whatshisname is turned over to the Russians and is tried for anything, is he likely to receive any punishment other than a stern "I don't want to hear about you doing this again" lecture?
("I don't want you to hear about it either your honor. I'll try harder not to get caught next time.")
Actually, its the "conspiracy" that's the questionable bit. Its a bit of a catch-all.
The "ties to the Kremlin" is also a bit of a giveaway. The Kremlin is an ancient citadel that's the Russian equivalent of the area of DC that's administered by the Federal government that contains all the main (and ceremonial) parts of the US's Federal government. So "ties to the Kremlin" really means "knows a Russian lawmaker or two" but sounds a whole lot more sinister.
Insider trading accusations I can understand. Laying it on a bit thick Cold War style, that's something else.
FWIW -- The SEC will prosecute blatant cases but usually settles for just fining the miscreant their profit.
"The Kremlin is an ancient citadel that's the Russian equivalent of the area of DC that's administered by the Federal government that contains all the main (and ceremonial) parts of the US's Federal government. So "ties to the Kremlin" really means "knows a Russian lawmaker or two" but sounds a whole lot more sinister..."
This is wrong. The Kremlin does not contain the legislature (or the courts). A reference to the Kremlin is a reference to the President and his apparatus. A person who knows a "lawmaker or two" does not have ties to the Kremlin.
Klyushin on the other hand DOES have ties to the Kremlin. Specifically he is a close associate of Alexei Gromov, a senior official within the Presidential Administration who manages the media, and Klyushin's company has media monitoring contracts with the Presidential Administration.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/12/21/russian-businessman-appears-in-us-court-after-swiss-extradition-a75888
But the Supreme Court is populated by politics and the police do not "enforce" the law, they claim that they "are the law" which is why they kill anyone who they think might be abut to scare them or they think has committed a crime, e.g. a kid with a toy, or someone who they have been told bought a packet of cigarettes with a fake $20 bill.
The USA has some very good principals and attitudes, but they are administered in a terrible way.
I'm guessing it was an attempt to pretend they did not have the backstage pass they actually had (so to speak). The SEC's monitoring system is apparently very good. If someone was achieving 100% success rates on their trades, then that would definitely be raising a lot of flags.
My guess is that the 66% ensured massive gains, whilst the losses on the 33% were magically only very small drops...
I suppose if they bet on, say a price rising on a good report and it turns out that the market expected an even better report the price might actually fall.
They not only have to know what the information says, they also have to make a correct guess as to how the market will react to the news and they're not always going to succeed.
I don't think that figure alone would stand up in court. They need forensic evidence as well - i.e., digital records of the illegal access. However, better than normal results good have been a trigger to start looking for forensic evidence.
It would be naive to think that leakage of results (not from the SEC database but per corporation by insiders) was not a common enough occurrence. There is surely is a correlation between size of haul and chance of getting caught. More reason to move away from the economy as a slave to finance, towards finance as a humble servant of the economy.
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