On September 7, 2023, Russian businessman Vladislov Klyushin was sentenced in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts to 9 years in a federal prison for his role in an elaborate hack-and-trade scheme that allegedly generated approximately $90 million in profits. According to the judgment, which was filed by the court on September 11, 2023, the determination of Klyushin’s restitution was deferred until December 5, 2023.
In April 2021, Klyushin was indicted along with alleged co-conspirators Ivan Ermakov and Nikolai Rumiantcez on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud, unauthorized access to computer, and conspiracy. At the time of the offenses, Klyushin, Ermakov and Rumiantcez allegedly served as deputy general directors of M-13, an information technology company based in Moscow that was owned by Klyushin. According to court documents, between January 2018 and September 2020, Klyushin and the coconspirators hacked into the computer networks of two US-based filing agencies that made quarterly and annual filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on behalf of publicly-traded companies. Klyushin and the coconspirators were allegedly able to access nonpublic information such as press releases and companies’ earnings reports that had not yet been filed with the SEC or released to the general public. Before the information was made public, they allegedly purchased securities based on information that they illegally obtained. In April 2021, the SEC also filed parallel civil charges against Klyushin, Ermakov and Rumiantcez as well as Vladimirovich Irzak and Irgor Sergeevich Sladkov for their alleged roles in the insider trading scheme. In 2022, the SEC’s case was administratively closed without prejudice pending the outcome of the related criminal matter.
In February 2023, a federal jury in Boston convicted Klyushin on all counts for his role in the hack-and-trade scheme. While arrest warrants have been issued for Ermakov and Rumiantcez, the two remain at large.
USAO of Massachusetts Press Release | Indictment | Judgment | Sentencing – Docket Entrry| Order for Closure – SEC matter (2022)