- French police arrested Daniil Kasatkin at the request of the American authorities
- His lawyer says Kasatkin bought a second -hand computer, and he is completely innocent
- Kasatkin would be denied the deposit
A Russian professional basketball player was arrested at an airport suspected of being a Ransomware cybercriminal.
On June 21, 2025, the French authorities arrested Daniil Kasatkin at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Kasatkin is a 26-year-old basketball professional, playing for MBA Moscow in the Russian VTB United League.
He graduated from the Pennsylvania State University in 2019 and was apparently arrested at the request of the American authorities.
Russia requires consular access
Kasatkin’s lawyer, Frederic Belot, told the French press agency AFP that his client was essentially in Allicality PC and that he could not have made ransomware attacks:
“He bought a second -hand computer. He has done absolutely nothing wrong. He is shocked,” Beot told AFP. “It is useless with computers. He cannot even install an application. He did not touch anything on this computer. He was hacked or sold by a pirate who wanted to pretend to be someone else.”
Talk to PK Press ClubBelot apparently recognized that the computer was used for cybercrime.
“Kasatkin simply used a second -hand computer that he bought without changing the system name of the system. The account was undoubtedly hacked and was controlled remotely by cybercriminals without the knowledge of Mr. Kasatkin,” said Belot.
After the news of the arrest, the Russian Embassy in Paris required consular access to Kasatkin, also said PK Press Club. “The embassy faces the situation linked to the detention of Russian citizen Daniil Kasatkin in France,” the embassy said in a statement.
The embassy also criticized the French authorities for having been too slow: “This is not an isolated case when we are faced with a delay in the question of consular access to a Russian citizen.”
THE India time According to the French court, the France court rejected the surety for Kasatkin, which is now extradition to the United States. The name of the ransomware group of which he would have been a part was not disclosed, but the same publication claims that the group struck more than 900 organizations between 2020 and 2022.
Via Techcrunch
