Russian businessman with connections to Kremlin faces U.S. trial for hack-and-trade scheme

On Monday, a wealthy Russian businessman with connections to the Kremlin will stand trial on US charges that he took part in a massive scheme to make millions of dollars through illegal trading by using corporate data stolen through hacking.

Jury selection is set to start in federal court in Boston in the case of Vladislav Klyushin, 42, who owned a Moscow-based information technology company with ties to the Russian government prior to his arrest in Switzerland in 2021.

Following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine last year, the three-week trial comes at a low point in US-Russia relations.

While the case against Klyushin, who has pleaded not guilty, predates the war, his ties to the Kremlin have long piqued the attention of US authorities.

Prosecutors allege that Klyushin’s company, M-13, not only did work for Putin’s administration, but also employed a former Russian military intelligence officer wanted by the US government for alleged involvement in hacking schemes aimed at interfering in the 2016 US presidential election.