US prosecutors are trying to inject political undertones into the case of Russian businessman Vladislav Klyushin who is charged with insider trading-related economic crimes, according to Massachusetts court documents, photocopies of which were obtained by Sputnik.
The documents indicate that the Kluyshin case at present includes materials related to the issue of alleged “Russian interference" in the 2016 US presidential election.
The court files also revealed that the businessman’s wife is facing threats as she is being pressed to force her husband to admit that he meddled in the US 2016 election to ensure Donald Trump's victory. The Moscow-Trump collusion claims were debunked with the release of a report by then-US Special Counsel Robert Mueller in April 2019.
Additionally, it was revealed that Klyushin’s lawyers filed an appeal to change the measure of restraint for his client, pointing out that many documents from his case “bear signs of falsification”.
“[…] The defence believes the photocopied signature comes from one of the search warrants and affidavits that were stamped by Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler’s digital signature. Digital signatures of [the FBI’s] Special Agent Kang were likewise copied onto the affidavits that were submitted in support of search warrants […]”, the documents read.
Klyushin Case
Vladislav Klyushin owns M13, a company that provides media monitoring and cybersecurity services. The 41-year-old was arrested in Switzerland in March 2021 and extradited to the US later that year. He and four other Russian nationals were charged in December 2021 with crimes connected to an alleged global hacking and trading scheme that purportedly netted the defendants at least $82 million in profit using stolen company data to make trading decisions.
The US Justice Department accused them of hacking computer networks of two US filing agents, used by publicly traded companies to make quarterly and annual filings between January 2018 and September 2020.
Klyushin denied all accusations during the initial hearing in early January 2022. Judge Bowler rejected his bail request and ordered that he be kept in prison until the trial.