Another Russian hacker in custody

A Russian national was indicted and extradited to the United States this week for allegedly hacking into the networks of U.S. groups involved in stock market trading to profit from insider information, the Justice Department announced Monday.

Vladislav Klyushin was extradited from Switzerland to the U.S. on Saturday after his arrest by Swiss authorities in March, and is set to appear in federal court in Boston on Monday, where he is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Massachusetts.

Shady trading: Klyushin is alleged, alongside several Russian co-conspirators, to have hacked into the networks of two unnamed U.S-based filing agents between January 2018 and September 2020 to obtain information on whether stocks would rise or fall, then making trading decisions that brought in tens of millions of dollars.

The hackers allegedly leased servers based outside of Russia, including in Boston, to view the information. Klyushin is charged with unauthorized access to computers and committing wire fraud and securities fraud, among other charges, and faces a maximum of up to 50 years in prison and $1 million in fines if convicted on all counts.

“The integrity of our nation’s capital markets and of its computer networks are priorities for my office,” Acting U.S. Attorney Nathaniel Mendell said in a statement Monday. “Today’s charges show that we, the FBI, and our other law enforcement partners will relentlessly pursue those who hack, steal and attempt to profit from inside information, wherever they may hide.”